The Power Within
by Ultima Phoenix
Summary: A young boy is thrown from a normal life to the life of the Elementals. Will Aster accept Ultima as his mentor and learn the ways of the Elementals and help in the war against the Dark Elementals? Please don't flame.
1. Prologue

**The Power Within**

**By: Ultima Phoenix**

**Prologue**

Long in the history of mankind, people worshipped figures that they deemed legendary or even godly, all because they possessed a power over something a normal human didn't. Unknown to them, these legendary figures were just like them, only they had powers and lived much longer. These figures also could be killed just as easily as a normal human.

Nowadays, people just pass those figures that really existed among people off as myths. Their bloodlines still exist today, and their powers come with their blood. People often go without noticing that they have these extraordinary powers, but even if they didn't know, they still pass them on to their sons and daughters with their blood.

A young boy named Aster one day finds that he has an affinity with electricity, and is the most energized during a storm. He also finds that when he is emotionally stressed, the weather tends to be overcast, and when he is downright enraged, the weather forecast shows a severe thunderstorm. He pays this no mind, as he is like most other humans and passes it off as coincidence.

Elsewhere, a man who has found his powers, and has become the most powerful of the Elementals, sees Aster, and knows that these occurrences aren't mere coincidence. He intends to find the young boy and teach him to become an Elemental.

_Okay, this just popped into my head one day, and IT WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!! That is until I start writing it. I realize that this is short and I promise that the coming chapters will lengthen, but remember that this is just a prologue. I promise that the coming chapters will be longer. Now remember to review! _

_-Ultima_


	2. Ultima Appears

**Ultima Appears**

One morning, Aster woke up in an unidentifiable mood. The sky was partly cloudy, so he couldn't be in a bad mood, but he also couldn't be in a particularly good mood either. He didn't know what to call it, and this vexed him.

He got dressed in his usual outfit of a silver jacket, black shirt, black pants, and white shoes. His hair was silver as well, and that only accentuated his strikingly green eyes. He was looking forward to this day as he was always looking forward to his "A" days. He had his favorite teacher, who was like a father to him, Mr. Sollack today.

Since his father died after Aster found that he had an affinity with electricity, his mother distanced herself from him. He didn't have any brothers or sisters, so he could only rely on his friends and teachers for support. He got the most support from Aqua, his best friend, and Mr. Sollack, his English teacher. His mother made sure to take care of Aster, however, for fear of the law, and she didn't want anyone to have to suffer for what had befallen her husband.

Aster knew that his father died because of him. As he walked to school, he always thought of his father, because his father walked with him everyday to school when he was younger, that is until _that_ day.

_-Flashback-_

"_Aster, are you okay?" his father asked._

_Aster was in a particularly bad mood on the way home from school. Some of the bullies at school made fun of him because his father took him home everyday. Aster's eyes weren't their usual shiny green that they had always been; they were now dark and stormy, as was his mood. The sky began to match his mood, and before long, a severe lightning storm whipped up._

_Aster's father knew that Aster was somehow causing this, because his eyes were now inverted (pupil white, cornea green) and electricity was flowing from his fingertips._

"_Aster! Calm down!" he shouted, but that only exacerbated the situation, and Aster only became more fierce in his attack._

_The majority of the lightning bolts were falling around the school, utterly destroying it, but there were a few that fell near Aster. His father grabbed him by the wrist, but that proved to be the biggest mistake that he will ever make, because once he grabbed his wrist, he was electrocuted by thousands of volts of electricity._

_Aster finally came to once he noticed that power was draining from his body. He saw what he didn't ever want to see. He saw his father's body hanging limp from his wrist, his eyes glossed over and unseeing, and his skin charred from the electricity. Finally, the rain began to fall, and with it, Aster's own tears as he realized that he killed his own father._

_-End Flashback-_

Aster found that his vision was slightly blurred as he walked, "Heh, guess I'm still not over it, even if it happened nearly ten years ago…" he trailed off as the clouds in the sky got slightly darker.

As soon as he walked into Dante High School, he immediately started looking for Aqua, his best friend, and significant other. He found her with a few of their friends, some of which Aster found particularly annoying.

"Hey Aqua." Aster greeted.

"Oh, hello, Aster!" she had a big grin on her face, "I was hoping I would find you."

"What's going on?" He said, confusion and nervousness all over his face.

Aqua took in a big breath and said, "I finally got asked out!"

This piece of news struck Aster hard. He always liked Aqua, and in the few recent years he began to like her to an even higher extent, but never had he noticed that she had her eyes on someone else. He forced a convincing smile and said, "Congratulations." Unknown to both of them, the clouds in the sky were multiplying and they were steadily getting darker.

She began to explain what he was like and who he was to Aster, but he didn't hear a word of it. All he heard was those five words echoing in his head, making his mood all the worse. "I'm sorry Aqua, but I've gotta run." He couldn't hide the crack in his voice, and he took off without giving Aqua a chance to say what she wanted.

"Wait, Aster!" She looked down, "I wanted to tell you that I turned him down because I like you…" she trailed off and walked off to her first class in a very somber mood.

Aster walked into his English class, still wiping away the tears of rejection, he looked up to see a concerned face on the usually cheerful Mr. Sollack, "Sorry I'm late, got tied up in the bathroom." He heard snickering from the rest of the class, but he didn't care, all he wanted was to be with Aqua, and now he couldn't.

Mr. Sollack nodded and gave Aster a "We'll talk later" look, to which Aster also nodded. He took his seat, and class started as the bell rang.

First period just flew by for Aster because he couldn't focus on anything. When he came to Mr. Sollack before second period he asked, "What's wrong, Aster?"

"Aqua." He said simply.

"Ah, so that's it." Mr. Sollack said, "well—" he was cut off by a scream in the hallway. His eyes flashed and said, "Aster, wait here, we'll talk later, about a great many things." He got up and left Aster utterly befuddled.

Much to the contrary of his own conscious mind, Aster's subconscious forced him to look through the door, and there he saw a lithe woman with hair that looked as if it were charged with static electricity, and he also saw Mr. Sollack standing directly across from her, but his back was turned, so he didn't see Aster.

"What do you want here?!" Mr. Sollack called out.

The woman looked at him with a malicious smirk and said, "What do you care? You can't do anything about it, and even if you could," she charged a sword made of pure lightning, "you have no weapon."

"Ha, you _are_ a fool." Mr. Sollack said in a bored tone, "You really have no idea who I am, do you?"

She glared at him, "You are just a simple school teacher with no power as I have, and now since you have insulted me, you will have to die." She lunged at him, but her sword stopped short with a flick of Mr. Sollack's hand.

"Again, I say that you are a fool, for you can't recognize me through this simple disguise." His brilliant blue eyes became inverted, and his voice was deafening, **"My name is Ultima! In my veins flows the blood of Apollo! Remove thyself from my sight, or thou shalt be punished!" **In the flash of a blinding light, Mr. Sollack, turned into his true form, the Light Elemental and leader of the Elementals, Ultima.

He had flowing, shoulder length, blonde hair, put up in a ponytail. Brilliant blue eyes that were still inverted were flashing and a pair of phoenix wings glowed on his back. His outfit was a white and blue sorcerer's outfit that flowed in the wind. In another flash of light, an ivory staff with a topaz gem on top appeared in his right hand, and a golden bow around his back, along with a quiver alongside the bow.

The confident woman, who was just threatening Ultima, was now looking terrified at who she just angered, "U-Ul-Ultima!! Rogue didn't say _you _were here!"

"Yes, well, Rogue doesn't follow me as I do her." He eyes looked as if they were piercing into her very soul, "She is a danger to this world, and I will not allow her to do any harm to a soul here." His wings flapped once and he began to hover above ground, "I will show you mercy but once. Leave!!" She complied quickly and in a flash of lightning, she was gone.

Ultima slowly turned and floated to the ground, "Aster, I know you saw everything, your subconscious couldn't help it; it was attracted to Thor's descendant."

Aster shyly walked out of the room into the empty hallway, as the school was quickly deserted with the woman's appearance, and walked up to Ultima.

Ultima's eyes returned to normal, and gave Aster a fatherly gaze, which warmed him and gave him confidence to ask what he wanted to ask, "What are you? I know _who_ you are, but _what _are you?"

Ultima lightly chuckled at this, "I, am what you are, an Elemental."

_Alright! I've finally introduced myself, disguised at first, of course, but now I'm in. Right now, I'm taking applications for people who want their characters to become Elementals. Send me a bio of them and what element you what them to wield. I'll keep an up-to-date listing of people who have taken the different elements. First I want to say that this isn't my idea to take applications, it came originally from __**Luna345**__, so I'll say thank you to her for giving me this idea, and for being the first to enter an application._

_Tell me what you think! I really wanna know! I only got a few reviews last chapter so please REVIEW!!!_

_-Ultima_


	3. Scrierea and Sora

**Scrierea and Sora**

"What's an Elemental? And since when am I one?" Aster asked incredulously.

Ultima laughed at his confusion, "You have been one for awhile, just been unaware of such." He smiled, "You have the blood of Zeus flowing through your veins from what I can tell, maybe others as well; it's too early to tell." He looked to the sky, "As for what one is…an Elemental is a person with the ability to control an element in any one of its forms. As you may have surmised, I am the Elemental of Light."

Aster just stared at him, "Is that really all that it is? Really?"

"Yup, that's it. What, did you expect more?" Ultima looked at him amusedly

"So, you said I had the blood of Zeus right?" Ultima nodded, "Then that means, I must be able to control electricity or something like that right?"

"Exactly, so I need to take you to my place and train you, so that you don't lose control of it in any given situation." He thought for a second, "You'll also meet a few other Elementals, I sense great power within you, so you may have more blood in you than just Zeus's."

"Are you sure you can just take me out of school like this?" Aster questioned.

"Look at the building," Aster did as he was told, "Most of the building is severely damaged, and the entire roof is gone. I'd say that's overkill on Fulgora's part."

"Fulgora?" Aster looked genuinely confused.

"The woman that attacked me, and got the living crap scared out of her." Ultima looked satisfied with what he did, and Aster snickered at the memory.

"What about my mom? How will you tell her?" Aster said solemnly.

"The question is, how will _you_ tell her?" Ultima said gently, "I can't be doing all of this for you, you'll have to do some of it yourself."

Aster looked down and said, "Okay, let's get this over with…"

On the walk back to Aster's house, Ultima told him the different signs that gave him away as an elemental, and how he himself became one. Before Aster knew it, they were at his house, and when he went inside, he noticed that Ultima was no longer with him, or so he thought. "I'm here. It's best if she not see me, so I bent the light around me to render myself invisible to the human eye." Aster nodded then turned to his mom.

"Mom, I have to leave for a while--" Aster started but his Mom stopped him.

"I know you have to leave, just be careful okay?" His Mom said, and then hugged him, "I don't want to lose you the way I lost your father okay?" Aster nodded then said, "Okay, I'll be careful. I promise." Then he left without another word.

"So where exactly do you live, Ultima?" Aster suddenly asked.

"I live in the sky over Japan with another Elemental. Scrierea, the Elemental of Fire, be careful around her, she's a little eccentric." Ultima cringed a little, "Well, let's get going. I'll have to teleport you if we're going to get there anytime soon."

Ultima raised his hands and began to charge light energy and surround himself as well as Aster with that same energy. His eyes inverted and he shouted, **"Light-year Teleport!"** And a huge flash of light engulfed himself and Aster and they disappeared, but unknown to them, there was one witness. Aqua ran home in a rush, majorly unhappy that Aster was leaving.

Ultima and Aster reappeared at a fortress suspended in the sky. The fortress itself was huge, yet to the people below; it was nothing more than a large cloud. The fortress was gold in color, and at the top of it were four statue, two phoenixes, one topaz the other ruby, a turquoise eagle, and an emerald dragon.

"We have all but the dragon." Ultima said.

"What?" Aster said, confused.

"You were looking at the statues. They symbolize who is supposed to live in this fortress, I am one of those phoenixes, you'll see the other two in a minute." Ultima explained.

They walked through several hallways until they reached a large, decorated room. Inside was a lot of ornate furniture. "Have a seat Aster" Ultima said, "I'll go get the others." Ultima left just for a few moments and reentered with two women, one with red phoenix wings on her back, the other with blue eagle wings on her back.

The girl with the blue wings approached Aster and introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Sora. I am the wind elemental, and a descendant of Ouranos, may I ask your name?" She gave him a warm smile, and he consented.

"I'm Aster, apparently I'm an elemental too. According to Ultima, I have the blood of Zeus so I would say that I'm an electric elemental." Aster said.

Sora nodded and said, "Yes, that's a very possible outcome, well you've met Ultima so I guess Scrierea needs to introduce herself now." She turned to the girl with the red phoenix wings, "Scry, introduce yourself."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." She walked up to Aster, "Hi Aster! I'm Scrierea, Scry for short. I'm the Fire Elemental, and descendant of Hephaestus."

_Now I know what Ultima meant by "a little eccentric." This chick's nuts!_ Aster thought, "Nice to meet you both. Now can someone tell me what the hell is going on here!?"

_All applications for Elementals are no longer being accepted because all positions have been filled. Hope you liked this one, Scrierea and Sora do not belong to me they belong to __**My Chemical Necromance**__ and __**Luna345 **__respectively._

_Review please, and I apologize for the lateness of this update, things have been getting a little hectic. Be sure to review and I'll up the pace a bit._

_-Ultima_


	4. Not Emerald, but Diamond

**Not Emerald, but Diamond**

Ultima laughed heartily at Aster's outburst, while Scrierea wore a bewildered look. She then walked over to Ultima and slapped his arm, to which he almost immediately stopped laughing, but his eyes still conveyed his unspoken laughter. Sora also laughed at Aster's outburst, but a little more softly than Ultima, in fact, one couldn't hear her laughing over Ultima's.

"What's going on you ask?" Sora chuckled out, "Why, we're introducing ourselves, seeing as you'll be here for a while."

"I know that!" Aster said frustrated, "I meant, what is all this? How can you be so sure about me? How do you know of my blood? How do you know it's true?"

"Whoa, whoa slow down there!" Scry said suddenly, "We may be superhuman, but we can't keep up with that mouth." Unknown to Aster, his words were steadily starting to increase in speed, thus allowing to speak at superhuman speeds.

"How about we show you something." Ultima proposed. "Let us take you to the statues on the roof, and then you'll see something interesting."

"Okay then." Aster said, and he got up and followed Ultima to the roof, followed closely by Sora and Scrierea.

Now that he had a closer look at the statues, he could tell the differences. He could see that the topaz phoenix was glowing dully, and the red phoenix had what looked like a flame on the inside. The turquoise eagle had a constant thermal air current spinning around it, and the emerald dragon had electrostatic discharge running around it erratically.

"Okay, now that we're here, tell me what you see on the statues, and make sure that you look closely. Be sure you look at the sky dragon first though." Ultima instructed.

Aster looked at the emerald sky dragon and saw an indentation in the shape of a hand, and then he moved to the other statues and saw similar indentations on them as well.

"You saw a hand-shaped indentation on the dragon right?" Ultima asked, "But not on the others, correct?"

"No, I saw indentations on all of them." Aster said, "What does that mean, Ultima?"

"You saw them on all of them?" Ultima said confusedly, "Okay, then come with me. Sora, can you go and grab Voltic? Tell her that her elemental station is safe, and that we need her to get into the chamber of the Diamond Dragon."

Sora nodded once and took off with a gust of wind. Ultima motioned for Scry and Aster to follow him and they did. He led them through the fortress until he got to a giant door covered in crystal. There were five colored crystals on the door itself, one topaz, one emerald, one turquoise, one ruby, and one blue, like a diamond.

"This is the chamber of the Diamond Dragon." Ultima said, "Aster, what I had you do, was a test. I said earlier 'we have all but the dragon' but what I really meant was this dragon, not the Emerald Sky Dragon you saw on the roof."


	5. Gathering of the Elementals

**Gathering of the Elementals**

"I am Voltic." Voltic said, "I am the Lightning Elemental and a descendant of Zeus; pleased to meet you, Aster."

"My pleasure," The Aster said, "Now Ultima, I've heard each of you say that you were a descendant of a certain god." Ultima nodded, "Then who am I a descendant of?"

"Oh yes, we never explained what the Diamond Dragon really was." He walked to the wall, where there were several inscriptions in an ancient language, "These inscriptions basically say that the Dragon's lineage is a rare one. The Diamond Dragon is the only one in existence to have the blood of all the gods of ancient times. In other words," He turned to Aster, "you are a descendant of every god that we as individuals are descendants of."

Aster nodded and opened his mouth to speak again, but felt a dark and cold energy sweep the room. He began looking for its source until deep yet feminine a voice spoke, "Over here, boy."

Aster turned to see a slender woman in a long black dress, silver earrings and bracelets, silver shoes and long, jet-black hair. Her eyes were as dark as can be, but Aster noticed that they were of a purple shade. She was standing on the snout of the diamond statue looking at Aster intently, until she smirked and jumped off the statue.

Aster shuddered as she walked past him towards Ultima, who had an angered, yet not-surprised look on his face. "Trying to get in my way yet again, Ultima dear?" The woman said in an amused yet sinister tone. "I thought I taught you that you shouldn't do that with the death of your apprentice?"

"What the _hell_ are you doing here, Rogue?!" Ultima snarled, "Come to retrieve what dignity you can from Fulgora's failure?"

The woman, apparently, Rogue, immediately scowled at him, "She was not supposed to encounter you. She was merely supposed to retrieve this boy here," She gestured to Aster, "So that I could plunge this world into eternal darkness. But, no matter, it is only a minor setback."

"I thought that you would appear, so I prepared the welcome for you." Ultima said with a sinister tone. "All I have to do is say two words; not only will you be gone from here, but it will alert all the elementals that are my allies and we will immediately be off to Dekrosna's Temple of Time, where you can't reach us." Ultima smirked triumphantly, and it only served to anger Rogue.

"You seriously think that you can escape _my_ detection?" Rogue laughed bitterly, "I'd like to see you try your little trick."

"Very well, but remember, you asked." Ultima looked up, spread his golden wings, and began to glow a white light, to which Rogue recoiled with a hiss.

"I know that you are just a Shadow Illusion being used to spy on us, so I'll just use this to dispel you." His eyes started glowing, "**ETERNAL LIGHT!**" White light began to appear around Ultima and began to form a sphere, completely engulfing him in the radiant energy. Then, the light began to spread out, until it burst into a brilliant flash, destroying the illusion of Rogue and conveying a message to everyone with elemental powers that was on the side of the light.

_My friends, the time has come. The Diamond Dragon has awoken and has been discovered by our enemy. We must gather in a safe place. Come to the temple of the Quartz Dragon, direct relative to the Diamond Dragon, and controller of Time, and all will be revealed. I wish you all the best of luck in getting there._

–_Ultima, The Golden Phoenix_

As the message died away from Aster's mind, Ultima slowly floated back to the ground and folded his wings, as the glow died down to nothing. He turned to Aster and the others, "We must make haste to Dekrosna's temple in the Bermuda Triangle."

"Wait!" Voltic interjected, "How will Aster get there? He doesn't know how to fly yet, let alone take on the form of a dragon."

"Follow me; there is a portal in here that leads directly to his temple." Ultima turned and led them to a study in the upper reaches of the fortress.

The door was rather large, but not as large as the door to the Chamber of the Diamond Dragon. The door had a compass in the center but instead of it have North, South, East, and West, it had a blank slot. "I had Artemis put in this door so that we could get to Dekrosna's temple and not have to fly there. The Bermuda triangle is a long way away from Japan." Ultima paused then began to chant a spell.

For a second, the door didn't react at all, until the compass on it began to turn and the blank slot began to glow purple. The glow disappeared and in the blank it said "Bermuda Triangle: Temple of Time." Ultima finished the spell and the hands on the compass suddenly stopped in a horizontal fashion. The doors opened and they walked through to see a huge temple with clocks in various places.

"I see you're making good use of my door." A panther/wolf hybrid creature said to them. She smiled, her teeth glinting in the sun, "Glad it became of some use."

_Okay, now the story's beginning to roll. Next chapter, all of the Elementals of Light will be introduced, as well as the direct relative to Aster, the Quartz Dragon. Tell me what you think! I really wanna know!_

_-Ultima _


	6. The Elemental Council

**The Elemental Council**

The hybrid got up from her squatting position and walked over to Aster, whose silver wings were shining brilliantly in the sun of the island. "So this is the Diamond Dragon, huh?" She looked at him with her bright purple eyes, which for some reason made Aster nervous.

"Uhh, hi?" Aster said nervously. The hybrid's eyes flicked to lock with his, and then she said suddenly, "I'm Artemis, the elemental of space and gravity, descendant of Hermes. If I were you, I'd stay out of my way, or else I'll have a meal." She smiled menacingly with her teeth still glinting in the sun, until she heard a deep booming voice address.

"Artemis, back off. If you push it too much, he could kill you with ease, even though he has no idea of what he's capable of." A rather large man with thick brown hair that fell to the base of his neck, wearing brown clothes and carrying an eight-foot long sledgehammer walked up and looked at Aster with kind eyes which calmed his earlier nervousness. "Name's Ridge. I'm the earth elemental and descendant of Gaia. Don't worry about Artemis, she's just a little psycho is all. She wouldn't harm you."

Artemis nodded and said, "Yup, just messin' with ya is all." She smiled again and her teeth flashed once again.

"You tend to mess around a little too much, Artie." Artemis growled at the shore when a woman manifested herself out of the water present. She walked forward towards the group and the first thing Aster noticed was her deep emerald eyes. They were much like his, but they were a bit darker. Her blue hair nearly covered her face and blended with her blue shirt. Her jeans were a little worn, but were still good. When she stopped, Aster noticed two sapphire orbs floating up from the water towards her. They stopped and began to float about her. "You really need to know when to stop, from what I saw you scared the living crap out of him."

"DON'T CALL ME ARTIE!!!!" Artemis roared, "You _know _I hate that nickname!"

"Artemis, you know there is no way that you can make me do anything." She said matter-of-factly, "Now as for our newest member. My name is Leda Swan. I'm the water elemental and descendant of Aquarius." Aster nodded in acknowledgement, then shivered at a blast of cold air that suddenly passed through.

"Here comes Fringe." Scrierea said boredly, "This oughta be fun."

Suddenly the ground started to freeze in one area. Then a spire of ice shot up from the ground, and then several more seconds later, and then even more until they shattered revealing a man wearing dark blue combat garb with light blue hair and icy blue eyes. On his left he had a sword on his belt with a white colored hilt. He walked toward the group, sizing up Aster in the process. He stopped in front of him, continuing to size him up, and then he spoke, "This is our Diamond Dragon? Is this the one we've been searching for?" He looked at Ultima, "I think you got the wrong one, Ultima. He seems to be too small to be one of that caliber of power."

Ultima looked at Fringe and he flinched under the intensity of the light elemental's stare, "Don't forget, Fringe. You were small when we found you as well. Even smaller than Aster is now." Fringe looked away at the recollection then faced Aster, "I am Fringe, the ice elemental. I am a descendent of Skathi, and will be your teacher in the ways of ice."

"We all will be your teachers, Aster" Sora added, "But I think that Voltic will be the first to teach you, of course."

"I still think he is the wrong one." Fringe added arrogantly.

"He is not." A voice echoed throughout the island. "There is no one else besides me who has the blood of Janus."

There was a distortion in space and time, and then a man appeared. He wore clothes with silver and black colors all over. His hair matched Aster's except that his hair was more black than silver, whereas Aster's was reversed. His aqua eyes looked directly into Aster's green eyes. After a second, both pairs of eyes flashed silver, proving their lineage. "My name is Dekrosna, the elemental of time, and descendant of Janus, as are you, Aster. Out of every elemental here, I am the oldest at sixteen centuries, and Ultima is a close second at fifteen and a half."

Aster gave Ultima a bewildered look. "It's true. His race is even thought to be extinct. And I lived during their golden age."

"Exactly." Dekrosna took over, "The Dracorans no longer live except for me and you as well. You have a little Dracoran in you, or else we wouldn't be related."

"And now that the council is formed," Ultima continued, "We should go inside to discuss what we should do about Rogue and the dark elementals, before they get any further to accomplishing their goal."

Everyone agreed and they entered the Temple of Time, in which time flowed differently than the outside world.

_In the Darkest Reaches of the Earth_

Rogue stood, with her council of dark elementals. She looked a little distressed at Ultima's strategy and disappointed in her own powers as she couldn't detect them after they walked through the Door of the Compass. Behind her jet black throne stood a raven made of onyx. The eyes on the statue pulsed purple every now and then, as a sign of her power. Currently, her council was arguing on their next move, now that the Diamond Dragon was awakened, they had to move very carefully.

Rogue rose from her seat "_**Silence!!**_" Immediately everyone in the room fell silent. "Our next move must be swift. We must smoke them out, and if I know Ultima like I think I do, he'll come to the rescue of innocents when they are in danger. We must wreak havoc upon the world, and we'll start at the Force Points, as all but one have been left unguarded."

The council began to whisper amongst themselves at the announcement of their next move, but with a wave of her hand, and the appearance of her jet black wings, Rogue silenced them again. "Sasha and Fulgora, go to the Force Point at the Continental Divide, where the Water Force Point is located."

She turned to another pair, "Megumi and Rift, go to the center of Antarctica, where the Ice Force Point is."

She turned to a rather hefty member, "Adamant, go to the peak of Mount Everest, that is where the Earth Force Point is."

Then to another, "Praxis, take care of the Wind Force Point directly between the Rocky Mountain range and the Appalachian Mountain range."

Then to the last, "Zereth, go to Mount Fuji, the location of the Fire Force Point."

"It will take all of us to take care of the Force Point of Light in the North Pole. Ultima hid it well, and it is heavily guarded by pure aura, which makes most of you sick when you come into contact with it. As for the Gravitational Force Point, it's not even on Earth, it's on the Moon. We can't even come into contact with the Time Force Point, which is where they are now, because it is undetectable even by me. I want you to wreak havoc so we can lure them out, and kill the Diamond Dragon before he becomes more than a hatchling. Now go!" The council bowed quickly, then disappeared into the shadows to attack their assigned Force Points.

_Okay, time to give some credit. __**Fringe, Praxis, Adamant, Ridge, **__and__** Voltic **__belong to __**Arrowsight. Sora **__belongs to __**Luna345. Megumi**__ belongs to __**Sabby-San**__. __**Leda Swan **__belongs to __**Koarse Krimson. Sasha Rennie**__ belongs to __**Dawns Eternal Twilight. Scrierea**__ belongs to __**My Chemical Necromance. Zereth, Dekrosna, **__and __**Rift **__belong to __**Dekrosna (Sharidak). **__And __**Artemis**__ belongs to __**Black Cyrus. **__Everyone else belongs to me._

_I put in a few references to some games that I've played. See if you can find them all. Hope you liked the chapter._

_Review please!_

_-Ultima_


	7. Training and Chaos

**Training and Chaos**

Aster walked through the Temple of Time that Dekrosna, who he found out was his cousin, watched over. He walked into the massive council chamber and found that everyone was there, and one person whom he did not recognize. The man saw and approached Aster while everyone else was in the midst of discussing what they should do.

"Hello, my name is Johnny Lkon." He said. Aster nodded and got a good look at him. He was fairly muscled with golden hair and eyes to match. He wore a red and yellow outfit and had deep red phoenix wings sprouting from his back. Aster could feel from the air around him that he was a fire elemental.

"I'm Aster. You aren't like the others, they introduced themselves along with their titles and who they're a descendant of, but you didn't. Why is that?" Johnny looked at Aster as if he were the strangest thing he had ever seen, and then said, "That is mostly because they are all older than I am. I'm merely 2,152 years old. The youngest of them, Fringe, is at least 5 millennia. And your cousin, Dekrosna, he's the oldest, with Ultima as a close second. Dekrosna's race was around even before humans appeared on the planet."

Aster looked at his cousin and mentor with surprise, "Exactly how old are they?"

Johnny looked up thoughtfully, "Dekrosna's pushing 11 millennia, I think. And Ultima's not too much younger." He looked at Aster to see a boy in total disbelief.

"What kind of race are you guys?" He said bewilderedly.

"We aren't looked at as gods for nothing. We can be immortal, if we're careful." Johnny looked at the group of elemental masters, "By the way, Scrierea's my teacher, and I'm her apprentice."

"That explains that energy that I felt from you." He looked at Johnny, "I don't really know how to explain it, but it just felt like fire."

"Aster, come here please." Ultima called. Aster complied and gave him a questioning look. "We've just decided on your training. First, you'll start with earth, Ridge will teach you everything he knows, then Leda will teach you water, followed by Scry and fire, then Sora and wind, then Fringe and ice, then Artemis and space, then Voltic and electricity, then myself and light, and finally your cousin Dekrosna and time. Ridge, you may take it from here."

"Thanks, Ultima. C'mon kid, we've got some work to do." Aster followed Ridge to an open area inside the temple. It was a beautiful meadow that was miraculously growing right inside the temple. "Okay Aster, first lesson. You need to learn how to meditate."

After several weeks of training with the masters, Aster learned how to wield earth, water, fire, and wind. It was then that Aster discovered a new power. Ultima identified it immediately as the ability to bend reality to one's will, so Ultima broke off Aster's elemental training for the time being and began teaching him how to use this new ability.

In the middle of one of these classes, Dekrosna came running in and said, "Ultima, the Dark Elementals are on the move, they're attacking the Force Points!"

"Well, I didn't expect Rogue to make the first move, but it appears that she did. We must go to the council chamber, and see the extent of what they're doing." Ultima turned on his heel and went directly to the chamber with Dekrosna and Aster trailing behind him.

Everyone was once again in the council chamber, except this time, everyone was in their seats, except for Johnny who didn't have one. Behind each elemental was a statue of an animal, each made of a respective gemstone. Behind Dekrosna, there was a white dragon made of quartz. Behind Fringe, there was a wolf made of sapphire. Behind Leda was an aquamarine serpent. Behind Ridge was a garnet lion. Behind Artemis was an amethyst panther. Behind Sora, Ultima, Scrierea, Voltic, and Aster were each of their respective statues made of each of their respective gemstones. In the middle of the room, there was a silver pool, Dekrosna began chanting a short spell, and the pool flashed to life. Scrierea looked, and then added her own power to bring the image into focus, for she was an expert at scrying the outside world.

In the pool, they saw several images one after the other. The first was of Sasha and Fulgora at the continental divide wreaking havoc, the next was of Megumi and Rift in Antarctica, then Adamant at Mount Everest, Praxis at the Great Plains, then finally Zereth at Mount Fuji. The elementals started whispering among themselves, and Ultima silenced them.

"Okay, we know what's going on, now we have to stop it. We must divide up and go to each of the Force Points, Johnny, Aster, and Scry will go and deal with Zereth. Artemis, Leda, and I will deal with Fulgora and Sasha. Voltic, you should be more than a match for Megumi and Rift, so you'll go to Antarctica. I want Fringe and Sora to deal with Praxis. And Ridge, you'll deal with Adamant. Dekrosna will stay and guard this Force Point. Now go!"

Everyone got up and left. Aster had since learned how to fly and even turn into a silver dragon. Once they got outside, Scrierea and Johnny both turned into crimson phoenixes, and Aster turned into a silver dragon. They each took off and headed for Mount Fuji, where Zereth was creating chaos.

They all arrived at the foot of Mount Fuji and saw that Zereth had created an army of lava golems, each one mindless and only responsive to his will. Then Zereth appeared at the peak.

"Scrierea, it's nice to see you again." He chuckled.

"Wish I could say the same, but I'm afraid I can't. Now what the hell do you think you're doing?" She took a step forward, "Answer quickly before I'm forced to beat your sorry ass!"

"Why I'm merely carrying out orders. We were to smoke you all out." He grinned evilly, "Now I must do what I can to eliminate that boy over there." He pointed to Aster.

"I don't think so!" in a burst of flame, a ruby-red spear appeared in her hands, "Boys, take care of the golems will you?" she then leaped up and landed at the peak in a single bound. Zereth drew a sword and began to breathe dark fire at Scry, but she was too quick to be hit.

Aster then thought of a weapon for him to use right as Johnny drew a sword of his own. He then put his hands in front of him and the air began to distort. In a flash, a pair of twin swords made of diamond appeared in his hands. Aster and Johnny began to attack the golems without another moment's hesitation.

After a good fifteen minutes, the golems were still coming, Scry was still fighting, and the boys were getting tired. Aster then thought of something, he looked to Johnny and said, "Keep them busy, I've got a plan." Johnny nodded and transformed into a phoenix, rejuvenating his energy at the same time.

Aster stood back and began to concentrate. He knew they needed help because they were beginning to become overwhelmed. He concentrated on the help they needed, a warrior that was smart and knew a lot of magic. The air began to distort again but then a blinding flash, stopping all the golems and Johnny in their tracks, lit the whole area. As the light died down a man stood at the ready with Aster at his side. "Ready Rayde?" Aster asked the man. "Of course I am." Rayde replied and they charged at the golems and entered the fray.

It turned out that Rayde was exactly the kind of help that they needed. He and his fang sword, which was really a sword with two blades on one side, cut down as many as five golems in one swipe. Aster took care of five in two swipes of his twin swords and Johnny took out three.

Eventually, they defeated all of the golems and made their way up to the peak where Scrierea and Zereth were still fighting.

Scrierea was still somewhat toying with Zereth, she danced around him as if he were the easiest person to fight. Zereth was trying to keep up, but Scry was extremely agile and eventually tired him out enough for him to say, "Enough! I've had enough, you haven't seen the last of me, be sure of that!" and he disappeared in an explosion of fire and ash.

Scrierea walked up with a weird look on her face and asked, "So, Aster, Johnny, who's the new guy?"

_Surprise! Another new character and another new power. __**Rayde**__ belongs to __**Arrowsight**__, and for those of you who haven't read his stories, I strongly recommend that you do. They are some of the best that I've read. Oh yeah! I forgot about __**Johnny Lkon.**__ He belongs to __**Krown,**__ who also has really good stories in his arsenal._

_Tell me whatcha think, you affect the storyline very much so let me know if I'm doing okay or if you'd like to see something else. The only way you can do this is to __**REVIEW!!!**_

_-Ultima_


	8. Combat Training

**Combat Training**

"So, Aster, Johnny, who's the new guy? Scrierea asked.

"This is Rayde, a warrior from the past." Aster answered, "I used my reality-bending powers to bring him here because Johnny and I were getting overwhelmed by the golems."

"Okay. I guess that we should put him back right?" Scry said.

"No." Rayde turned, "I saw the way that Aster fought, it was rather deplorable, and needs a lot of work, besides, I know an element that's been lost to this world."

"And that would be?" Scry said, slightly annoyed at his refusal.

"Plasma." Rayde said simply, "None of you know how to use it, and probably won't ever learn, along with that, I also have a friend that still lives whom I wish to speak to."

"Oh, forgot about that element…" Scry said, "Alright, time to head back, Rayde, I hope that you have your own mode of transport—"

Scrierea was interrupted by a pair of crystal wings appearing on Rayde's back. "-tation." Scry finished, "Okay, let's go."

And so they took off toward the Bermuda Triangle to rejoin the other elementals and to continue Aster's training.

As they walked up to the entrance of the temple, Dekrosna happened to be outside and see them, "Hello Scrierea, Aster, Johnny, and—" Dekrosna stopped short at the sight of Rayde.

"Hello Dekrosna, it's been a long time hasn't it?" Rayde said nonchalantly.

"R-Ray-Rayde?!" Dekrosna cracked out, "Is that really you from the dead?"

"Yes, thanks to your little cousin here, he brought me back from that tomb, which protected me from chronic abrasion." Rayde said.

"Rayde, it's been at least ten millennia! How can you be so casual about this?" Dekrosna asked

"Because, I never really knew I was dead, one second I was falling from the platform that Kaze had raised, the next I appeared next to Aster, he apparently saw everything that happened and so, filled me in." Rayde explained, "One other thing though, I knew that weren't actually a dragon."

Dekrosna grinned, "Same old Rayde." He slapped his back and led them inside.

They met up with Ultima who had come back earlier with Artemis and Leda.

"Hello Rayde, somehow I knew you'd come back." Ultima said warmly

"Ah yes, Ultima. I saw you as a phoenix back then, so what happened to you?" Rayde asked.

"Well, the light decided that I needed to be a human, so my spirit was infused with a human seed that was being conceived and I became a human." Ultima explained.

"That makes sense, but that doesn't explain what's happening now, also, I always saw you with a raven. Who was that?" Rayde asked.

"That was Rogue, and that is all I'll say on the matter, either way, now that I've seen you face to face, and I'm sure that Aster was the one to bring you back, I think he can continue his elemental training." Ultima surmised.

"Absolutely not." Rayde said, "What he needs now is combat training, not elemental training. I saw the way he fought, it was rough, but still not good; he was using more magic than sword."

"Well, you're the combat expert then, you teach him." Ultima turned to him.

"That is what I plan to do." Rayde then started to the meadow, where Aster did his training.

As they walked out into the meadow, Aster began taking out his swords, and Rayde turned and said, "Put those, away, we won't begin with real swords, I might hurt you if we do."

Aster did as he was told right as a wooden sword was tossed to him. He caught it and took a stance. Rayde took a defensive stance and said, "Show me what you've got."

Aster lunged at Rayde and began hacking and slashing at him, but to no avail. Rayde blocked each attack that Aster sent his way, then finally countered and sent him halfway across the meadow.

"After every attack, you leave yourself open; you need to keep your attacks close to you, so that you won't be left open. Also, I forgot something." Rayde turned and tossed Aster another sword, "Since you'll be using two swords, you should train with two swords as well. Now come at me."

Aster eagerly complied, hacking and slashing with more precision, but still just hacking and slashing. Rayde eventually began dodging his blows, "You'll have to deal with a variety of foes, some agile, some slow but powerful. Let's see how well you do with an agile foe."

Rayde's constant dodging began to frustrate Aster to a great degree, so much so that his eyes began to turn silver, and then slowly dull to a charcoal grey. Rayde repelled him and then sent him across the meadow again.

Aster was angry. None of his attacks worked, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He began transforming into the form of his anger. His normally silver wings were now charcoal grey. The air around Aster began to warp and turn hot. The ground around him began to die and become desolate. His hair then turned completely black, and his clothes faded to a charcoal grey. He stood and looked at Rayde with grey, slitted eyes, and then his swords rose up and sped toward Aster, however, he was no longer Aster.

He roared an inhuman roar, and ran at Rayde. Rayde immediately disappeared, grabbed his fang sword, and attacked the creature that Aster had become. Oddly enough, Rayde couldn't even touch him. The creature was on level with him, and didn't seem to be relenting.

Ultima saw what was going on, and immediately got Dekrosna who was in his study. Dekrosna saw what Aster had become and immediately stopped time. The creature kept moving, but realized that Rayde was no longer moving. He stopped and looked at Dekrosna, "Why did you do that?!" His voice was no longer his, it was warped and beastly.

"I know you aren't Aster, so who are you?" Dekrosna questioned, while taking a stance.

"Yes, I'd like to know that too." Ultima, who was unaffected by Dekrosna's power because of his ability to move at the speed of light and faster, agreed.

"You're right, I'm not Aster." He confirmed, "My name is Satre, his alter-ego. Everything he can do, I can do. And as you may have surmised, I know all that he can learn already, so I'm much more powerful than he is."

"Why have you appeared?" Ultima asked.

"I have appeared to help him defeat this arrogant idiot." He gestured to the still frozen Rayde. "He was too weak to do it, and his anger and frustration gave me entry."

"Very well then." Ultima raised his hand, "**Purifying Light!**"

A bright light engulfed Satre. He roared in pain and retracted his presence before he was eradicated. The light disappeared revealing an unconscious Aster, his regular features restored, and his swords sheathed.

Dekrosna positioned himself between Aster and Rayde, waved his hand to resume time, and drew his sword. As the hands of time began to turn again, Rayde stopped short before he hit Dekrosna, then said, "What the hell happened to him?"

"An alter-ego that appeared under extreme anger or frustration, or both." Ultima walked up to his ward. "He was angry and frustrated that he couldn't even land a single hit on you, while you just seemed to be toying with him."

"Ah, I see. I'll be more careful about his training then." Rayde said.

"What do you suggest we do now, Ultima?" Dekrosna asked.

"We wait for the others, and we wait for Aster to wake up." Ultima answered.

_I'm back! I'm terribly sorry for being so late on this update, but I can't help it when the motherboard on my last computer fried. I got a new one and had to figure out Windows 7 and now I'm back to writing._

_One other thing, He is not in this story, but he's mentioned quite often, so I'll go ahead and say that __**Kaze**__ belongs to __**Arrowsight**__ as well as __**Rayde**__. All credit for Kaze goes to him._

_Oh noes! Aster's got an inner demon! We'll see what he does with it as the story goes on. Tell me what you think!_

_-Ultima _


	9. A Conversation With, Myself?

**A Conversation With…Myself?**

"Are you sure you want to tell him Rayde?" Dekrosna asked.

"Yes, he's obviously lost any trust in me at all, and he needs to know that I know what he's going through, doubly." Rayde answered

"Okay, if you're sure." Dekrosna said.

"I'm sure," Rayde finished, "either way, we're gonna have to pick up his training where we left off. You know how to fight too Dekrosna, why don't you join us?"

"Yes, that's a good idea." Ultima approached from where Aster was lying, still unconscious.

Suddenly Scrierea, Leda, and Artemis ran in, "What was that energy surge?" Artemis asked.

"All will be explained once everyone gets back." Ultima turned, "Everyone needs to hear this."

_-45 minutes later-_

Everyone had arrived and felt the remains of the energy surge that Satre had released in his fight with Rayde, Ridge even tried to heal the warped land, but said it would take awhile to regain its fertility.

"So, Ultima, what exactly happened while we were out?" Sora asked.

Ultima looked up from the still unconscious Aster and said, "Aster has an alter-ego, and a rather dark one at that."

"Well, how did he come about?" Artemis wondered.

"I think I can answer that." Rayde offered, "I was beginning to train him in combat with his swords, but we ran into a problem with his temper, he was hacking and slashing at me, but couldn't actually land a hit. I think he felt as if I was toying with him and that got him angry, that added to the frustration he felt when he couldn't hit me built up and, he changed."

"I had Dekrosna stop time so that he and I could deal with him." Ultima continued, "We got him to identify himself as Satre. He told us that he appeared to _help_ Aster, not to take control of him; I don't think that he is necessarily evil, just dark and misguided. He's astoundingly more powerful than Aster, as he had Rayde working to keep up with him."

"I was trying not to hurt him, Ultima." Rayde turned, "Had I really been trying, he would've had a much harder time with me."

"I understand that, Rayde." Ultima said, "But nonetheless, we must be careful with him now, if something starts to anger or frustrate him, back off; we don't need Satre to appear again, he could just the opening Rogue needs in order to bring him to the dark elementals, and out task would then be exponentially harder, am I understood?"

Everyone nodded their agreement and dispersed throughout the temple leaving Ultima, Dekrosna, Rayde, and Scrierea with Aster. As Aster began to regain consciousness, they were immediately by his side, "Take it easy Aster," Ultima coaxed, "Take it slow."

"What…happened?" Aster asked, still lying down.

Ultima was about to speak when Rayde raised his hand, "I think I should take it from here, I caused this mess, and maybe I should clean it up."

Immediately the weather in the room and the land surrounding the temple began to change, it was temperately cool with green grass and leaves, now it began to get wintry with flurries of snow beginning to appear and the leaves on the trees beginning to fall.

Rayde looked questioningly at Dekrosna who answered his unspoken question, "It does this occasionally, changing seasons with the land outside, even though time moves faster in here than it does out there."

Rayde shrugged and continued, "Aster, although I may not be related in any way to you, we have something in common."

"What would that be?" Aster asked in annoyance.

"You have an alter-ego in your heart, another side to you, or rather another soul." Rayde shifted into a sitting position, "Now here's where the familiarity is; I have two separate souls residing in my body, you've heard on mentioned already no doubt."

"Kaze?" Aster asked in interest.

"Yes." Rayde smiled, "Kaze is an evil purple dragon who tried to take over the world with creations that he tricked me into making, Dekrosna knows them as The Golem and The Destroyer, the earth was rich in magic in those days, the early days of humanity."

Aster nodded, "You said you had two, right? Then who is the other one?"

Rayde sighed, "The other one is named Xaider, a wolf spirit whose mission was Human genocide. He destroyed every Human city he ran across, but avoided the Elven and Dragon cities because he knew that they possessed the magic to destroy him. He managed to completely destroy several Human cities before he set his sights on what was the largest Human city at the time, Narris. Fortunately for us, a white mage appeared that day and helped us to seal him away; the catalyst was a one-year-old human boy. The downside to that is, that Human boy, was me."

Aster's eyes were wide as saucers when he heard this, he thought that Rayde was just a pompous warrior that thought that he fought like crap, but he suddenly felt sorry for him.

"This is where things are different," Rayde continued, "Throughout the course of my life; I had to move the two spirits to my mind, where I have complete control. When they were in my heart, they posed too big a threat because they could take control should my will falter, so I had to move them. But Kaze was a different matter, he was completely removed from my body, and I had to reseal him in my body but this time, I made sure to seal him in my mind so that he couldn't take control."

"Now that we have that explanation out of the way, we need to find out what kind of soul resides in your body, and I can do that with you." Aster perked up at this, "Don't worry, there's no pain involved, all that will happen is you will enter in your own heart and we'll look for your friend trapped within you."

Rayde took his hand and placed it on Aster's forehead and began to concentrated, "Relax and focus on your heart, the very essence of your power." He did so, and blacked out.

_--In Aster's Heart—_

When Aster came to, the first thing he noticed were the changes to his body, in fact he wasn't human any more, he was a dragon. His eyes were still their sharp green, and the silver scales that were on his wings were also all over his body. The membranes of his wings were light blue, as were his four horns, underbelly, claws, and tail blades.

Then he thought, _Wait, tail __**blades**__?_

He looked his tail and saw two light-blue, crystalline blades on either side his tail. Along with the end of his tail, they resembled a trident. Then he saw the spikes on his back, he moved his paw and tail along his back and found that they ran from his horns, he looked again and saw that they were slightly darker than his horns. His horns were straight except for a single corkscrew towards the end, before ending in a sharp point.

He sat on his haunches and looked about and for the first time noticed how dark his heart sky looked like a swirling void of silver and black, with several platforms, some connected with bridges and some not. He continued looking around until he saw two temples directly adjacent to each other, one silver, and the other ebony.

Then he noticed Rayde, who was decked out in light crystal armor. The helm looked as if it was the head of a wolf, and his gauntlets looked like canine claws. His lower half, however looked reptilian, and was a slightly darker green. Aster especially noticed his feet which looked so much like his hind feet.

"I see you live up to your name in your heart, huh?" Rayde said, "You can only be the Diamond Dragon if you look like that in your heart."

Aster nodded and tried to speak, but got a growl instead. He tried again with the same result.

"Try speaking with your mind." Rayde suggested, "You may be a Dragon that can't speak normally and thus uses telepathy."

Aster nodded his large head and did as he was told, _Can you hear me now?_

Rayde nodded, "It looks as if your heart exposes a person to their very core, it showed both Xaider and Kaze through me."

_Yes I noticed, but I suggest we start moving, I don't know how long the others will wait._ Aster said.

"Yes that would be wise," Rayde agreed, "Well, this is your heart, where do you suggest we start looking?"

_I suggest those two temples up there,_ Aster said, _Something is telling me that the black one is where we'll find Satre._

Rayde nodded, "Can you fly? It would be much quicker if we flew over there."

_Naturally._ Aster then took off while Rayde was still forming his wings.

Aster and Rayde landed by the black temple five minutes later and made their way to the door. Rayde tried to get through but suddenly a barrier with arcane symbols appeared and he rebounded after running into it.

"What is this?" Rayde asked, "These are symbols I've never seen before."

Aster's eyes began to glow silver, _That is because they are of an ancient arcane language; for some reason, I can read them._

Aster read the spell and Rayde began to chant it, the barrier seemed to weaken, but it didn't disappear. "I think that you are the one who must remove it, I can't without killing myself."

Aster nodded and chanted the spell that was shown on the door and it immediately weakened. He reached out his paw and it destroyed the barrier.

"Looks like I'll have to teach you magic as well, Ultima and Dekrosna know their fair share of magic as well, so they'll teach you along with me. Shall we continue?" Aster nodded and they continued.

For the next fifteen minutes Rayde and Aster walked through the halls of that temple, dispelling five barriers along the way. Finally they reached a large stone door with at least triple the arcane symbols as the other barriers. The most noticeable thing was a large keyhole with three slots in the middle. Aster looked at his tail and saw that the keyhole was a match for his tail, so he began chanting the ancient language on the door until the keyhole began to glow. Aster took his tail and inserted in the keyhole and turned it 180 degrees until it clicked with a giant echo. The door opened tor reveal a large dome-room. Rayde and Aster began to walk forward until Aster hit a magical barrier that shocked the life out of his foot.

He recoiled quickly before his foot became numb, and then noticed the large glowing circle that was binding something in place. He and Rayde looked toward the center of the circle and saw a dragon that could've been Aster's twin, except his color.

This Dragon was Charcoal grey with black wing membranes, horns, spikes, underbelly, tail blades, claws, and eyes. He was shackled to the floor with chains of light that clasped around each of his ankles, his tail and his neck. Each of the chains were coming from a prong in the circle's design. To top it all off, he was trapped behind a cage of light that began where the twelve prongs of the circle ended.

_Hehehe, so you did come to seek me out didn't you? _He laughed.

"I take it you're Satre." Rayde stepped forward.

_Yes, you know me as Satre, _he confirmed, _but your friends, the Quartz Dragon and the Topaz Phoenix, also know me as the Obsidian Dragon._

Aster stepped forward, _Who put you here like this?_

_Well that depends on which seal you're speaking of._ He moved his head and another, smaller circle appeared glowing a dark blue. _The dark blue seal, was you, a simple four-pronged seal that would keep me in place and keep you in control. That is until your heart is thrown into chaos and the seal weakens._ The four-pronged circle disappeared. _This infernal white seal is exponentially stronger; it is a twelve pronged seal. This seal won't even let me move without sapping my power from me. Your phoenix friend put this on me when he chased me to the deepest reaches of your heart. The cage and chains are all features of this seal. Also, no one can get to me without getting rid of the seal, lest they be spellbound with me._ He grinned maliciously at Aster.

"Are you after Aster's downfall, and a body of your own?" Rayde asked.

_Hehehe, you obviously know nothing about me, and even less about him._ Satre laughed, _Begone from me, ask your friends about me, they will know._

Satre's laughing voice filled their heads as they began to feel themselves being pulled away until they suddenly blacked out.

_--Back with the others—_

Aster awoke with a start to see that the entire meadow was covered in snow, and the trees were bare, except for a few evergreens, but the beautiful sight did nothing to comfort him from the creepy and chilling feeling that he got from having talked with Satre.

Rayde awoke too, but he was as calm as ever, he looked over at Aster and asked, "Are you okay Aster?"

Aster paused while looking at Rayde, and then said, "Oh, that's right, I have to speak with my mouth now, hehehe. Yes I'm fine, just a little creeped out."

Rayde then got serious, and turned to Ultima and Dekrosna and said, "You two, we need to talk about a certain matter."

_Alright! Another chapter done! Firstly, I wanna say Merry Christmas to all of you, my readers. Secondly, I wanna know what you thought about this chapter, it took awhile, but I finally cranked it out, so lemme know! _

_-Ultima_


	10. Problems with the Heart

**Problems with the Heart**

"What is it that we need to talk about Rayde?" Dekrosna asked.

They were in one of the many studies of the Temple of Time and were about to discuss what about Satre, or the Obsidian Dragon, that they didn't know.

"It's about Satre." Rayde said, "First of all, he was bound by a seal, he said it was you who put him there."

"I did." Ultima admitted. "I had to, or he would come again, eventually, and you know that we really can't risk that."

Rayde nodded, "I understand that part, but that's not what troubles me. He identified himself differently to Aster."

Ultima now looked concerned, "Who did he say he was?"

"He said that he was the Obsidian Dragon, and that we should ask you and Dekrosna for any further information on him." Aster chimed in.

Ultima rose and went to get a book as Dekrosna put a hand to his forehead as he visibly paled.

"What are we missing?" Rayde took the question right out of Aster's mouth.

Ultima dropped the book onto the table, opened it and began to search through the book while he spoke, "The Obsidian Dragon is his current form, but he wasn't always that way. I was hoping that he would not appear in you, Aster, but unfortunately, he did." He stopped flipping through the pages and Dekrosna picked up where he left off.

"Long ago, back when Ultima and I were still young, about two-thousand years at the most, a dark enemy resided on the Earth. He is the predecessor of Rogue."

Ultima waved his hand over the book and an image appeared, within the image, three figures stood, or rather, flew in front of a giant black dragon. They were fighting him, and looked as if the were at the end of their rope.

Ultima spoke as the image moved, "In this picture, Dekrosna, Sol (the previous Diamond Dragon), and I are fighting the Black Dragon. He had no name, but was known only as the Onyx Dragon. As you can see, we aren't doing so well."

Aster nodded but was in total shock, he never thought that anyone would be stronger than his father-figure or his cousin.

Ultima flipped the page and a new image appeared, this one later on in the battle, when the three of them were completely stationary. "This is later on in the same battle, and as you may have surmised, by this time, we were all exhausted, but in one last desperate attempt to rid the world of this evil, we combined our powers to eliminate his."

As he said this, the three figures joined hands and spun in a circular motion and began to glow in a white light. As the light grew, Aster noticed that the figure that was Sol was dimming slightly, but was making an effort to maintain the appropriate level of power.

"As you can see, Sol was unable to maintain the correct power level because he was taking the brunt of almost every attack." Ultima continued, "In the end, we still managed to pull off the attack, but it did not have the desired effect. Instead of completely eliminating his power, it split it into three, and was absorbed into us. Dekrosna and Sol were hit first, but because I saw them absorb the power, I was able to slip out of the way and the power disappeared, or so we thought."

The dragon was enveloped in the white light and three black orbs of pure darkness were absorbed into Dekrosna and Sol, and Ultima slipped out of the way, by mere centimeters. Ultima flipped the page.

The new image now showed Dekrosna struggling with the new power and sealing it into his mind so that it may never appear unless needed, and Sol suffering from the imbalance in power.

"Sol suffered the most. His power was pure, even his power over darkness was pure, but the dark power that was from the Onyx Dragon, who died because he was eaten by the very darkness he commanded, was corrupt. He ended up only being able to seal it in a four-pronged seal within his heart, but even that was too much. He died from the effort of casting such a spell." Ultima sighed, "Dekrosna still holds that power to this day."

Dekrosna nodded, "He identified himself as Sharidak, nothing more."

"As for the orb that was meant for me, well…let me just show you." Ultima flipped a few pages until he found his desired page, then an image appeared showing the dark orb of power changing. It grew and took a form until it showed a woman with pale skin, jet black wings, a jet black dress, and jet black hair that flowed in the wind. The orb of power had formed Rogue.

"Wow, so we're fighting part of the Onyx Dragon?" Rayde asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid that we are. Rogue isn't near as powerful though, which is the only good news in this situation." Ultima said, "The Obsidian Dragon is also part of the Onyx Dragon, he must stay with Aster, and not be absorbed into Rogue."

Rayde, Dekrosna, and Ultima began discussing the new developments about Satre, but Aster let his mind wander. He spread his senses and could sense the energy signatures of all the people present in the temple. He was missing one though, Leda.

"Ultima, where is Leda?" Aster asked out of pure curiosity.

"Ah, you sensed that she was gone did you?" Ultima chuckled, "She left because we found that there was someone that could be her apprentice, like Johnny is to Scry, on an additional note, she is around the same area as where I found you."

Aster froze, instantly scared and relieved at the same time. He knew who it was, but he didn't want to believe it. He wasn't ready to see her, and yet he wanted to see her so badly. Ultima saw his reaction and immediately understood his train of thought.

"Aster, you have to be prepared for that, it may be her, and it may not." He sighed, "You'll have to cometo terms with her sooner or later."

"Ultima, I'm not ready to see her yet." Aster put his head down, but spoke anyway, "I don't even know if I can see her without breaking down."

"Aster, I know that this is hard, especially because we never got the chance to talk about it, but you'll have to face this eventually," He shook his head, "you can't avoid her forever."

Aster's head suddenly jolted up, as his senses were still spread throughout the temple, he sensed her energy signature. He didn't know if it was her because he didn't know what it looked or felt like, but he sensed Leda next to her as she walked in, and so he made to get up, but Ultima stopped him.

"Don't do this to yourself, Aster." He said seriously.

"Ultima, you are like a father to me," He said sadly, "and because you know me so well, you must know that _I can't!_"

Aster ran out of the room, into the training meadow, and flew off to the balcony of a study to go to his room from there. Ultima turned around, "Well…I tried."

Rayde walked up to him, "Just give him a little time. He seems a little distraught, and with this new apprentice that is obviously here now, he looked like he was in complete emotional turmoil. I could see the pain in his eyes, Ultima; he just needs some time to build up his courage."

Then the door opened to reveal Leda, and her apprentice.

_Who can guess who this new apprentice is? And can you also guess just what Aster's problem is with her? Show me what you know! :)_

_I was fairly disappointed to see very few reviews this last time, I usually get more so what happened to all my reviewers? I promise that I won't bite, so please REVIEW!! _

_-Ultima_


	11. Finding His Groove

**Finding His Groove**

It has been two weeks in hyperbolic time since Aqua had come to the temple, and Aster had been avoiding her like the plague. Ultima was concerned about him, of course, but he knew that he had to let Aster figure this out on his own. Unfortunately he couldn't let this hinder Aster's training any further, so he was on his way to Aster's room to force him to the meadow to train with Rayde as his swordplay skills were not getting any better just sitting up there brooding over unrequited love.

As Ultima walked in Aster's room, he didn't see a brooding young teenager, rather he saw Aster in a meditative state. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his fingertips touching their corresponding fingertip, fingers down and thumbs up, and his palms apart and his wings were spread so the tips weren't touching the bed he was sitting on. His body was very relaxed, yet his face betrayed this perception as it was a mask of concentration.

Ultima knew not to disturb him, in the state he was in it could do more harm than good, so he waited for Aster to open his eyes. He did not have to wait long as Aster's green slitted eyes opened not five minutes later with confusion in them.

"Aster," He began, "we are wasting time with you locked up in here. Now I realize that meditation is important to your training, but so is execution and practice. You are to come to the meadow in twenty minutes for your swordplay training with Rayde. I will be there to offer whatever assistance he may need, so if you have any last minute things you need to do here, I suggest you complete them."

Aster merely shook his head, indicating that he was free.

"Good, then get your swords and meet us there in twenty minutes, if you aren't there in twenty five minutes, then so help me I will drag you down there." He looked at Aster with a dangerous seriousness in his eyes that one would rarely see in the usually mirthful Light Elemental, "Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do." Aster said, his voice soft, yet firm.

"Good, I will see you there." Ultima said as he faded into a stream of light that flowed out of Aster's balcony to the meadow below.

Aster shook his head and thought, _Here we go again. I just hope that Satre doesn't rear his ugly head again,_ His heart then filled with sorrow,_ or that I don't run in to __**her**__. _

He proceeded to take off his jacket and change into something more comfortable and appropriate for training. When he walked out of his room he was still wearing his black pants but instead of his usual black t-shirt, he now wore an a-shirt so that he can keep cool during the inevitable duels with Rayde, and he kept his drake pendant around his neck.

He flapped his wings a couple of times, and then walked out into the meadow. He arrived not a minute too soon as when he saw Ultima and Rayde, Ultima had that impatient look on his face that he usually had when he needed to get something done, in this case, Aster's training.

"This is to be done like last time, okay?" asked the warrior from the past.

Aster nodded and drew his swords, eyes showing determination.

"Ah...hold on a minute." Ultima interjected as he moved to Rayde's Fang Sword and passed his hands over it a few times, seven to be exact, and did the same with Aster's Adamant Twin Swords. Aster looked up in confusion and Ultima said, "Wouldn't want either of you do accidentally be gutted with a sword now would we?"

Aster smiled and then looked to Rayde, "You ready?"

Rayde grunted with a nod and then jumped to the air. As Rayde descended to slash at Aster, he rolled out of the way and was immediately on defense as Rayde wasted no time in trying to get the upper hand.

All the while Ultima was observing the duel from a different vantage point than that of an opponent. _His defense is fairly solid, but slightly slow, and his attacks, whenever he gets them in, are clumsy at best, almost as if the way he's fighting now is…unnatural to him…and his wings tend to get in his way…_

Rayde too noticed the clumsiness of his attacks and the sluggishness of his defense, "You must be faster in your defense," almost to prove his point he moved around to another angle from which Aster barely was able to defend in time, "you must also look for openings in your opponent's style." Rayde was beginning to overwhelm him with his onslaught.

On the side Ultima's eyes widened in realization, _No, no Rayde, he's finding openings quite well, but his attacks are so awkward that he can't exploit them; we're teaching him the wrong fighting style, this one is not for him._ And just as he finished that thought, Rayde disarmed Aster with two swift flicks of his wrist.

"You lasted longer that time, and you didn't need your alter-ego's help to last" Rayde helped Aster to his feet and looked at him with battle-hardened eyes, "But you must learn to find openings in your opponent's defense, I left several in mine, and yet you exploited only a few of them."

Ultima stepped in this time, "No Rayde, he did see the openings, but his attacks were awkward, and clumsy, almost as if this fighting style were foreign and unnatural to his body."

Rayde looked thoughtful for a moment, and then realized that Ultima was right, he did see reactions to nearly all of the openings he left for Aster to exploit, but also saw that Aster's attacks were simply too clumsy for him to consider a reaction. "Well then, what do you suggest we do?"

"I suggest we allow Aster to use his instincts and develop a style that is the most natural to him." Ultima turned to Aster and had complete and utter seriousness in his eyes, "Aster, in order to do this, you will need to meditate and think of a way for you to fight. This could take awhile so we'll give you a bit of time to figure one out, okay?"

Aster nodded and then moved to sit down before he asked, "Wait. Exactly how much time do I have?"

"I'd say three hours at least will be fine." Ultima reasoned, and then he and Rayde turned around and walked out of the meadow to a study that overlooked the meadow so they could keep an eye on Aster.

Meanwhile, Aster sat down and assumed his meditation position with his fingers pointed to the ground and his thumbs pointed up to the sky. Even though his eyes were closed, he could still feel the energy around him, as he always did when he was meditating. This time however, instead of controlling the energy that began to surround him, he let the garnet energy of the earth move on its own. Soon the turquoise energy of the wind and the blue energy of the water began to wrap around him, effectively placing him in a cocoon of elemental energy.

Suddenly the kaleidoscope of color and energy began to form a scene. In this scene there were dragons, humans, apes, wolves, and cheetahs battling each other. To Aster's surprise however, the apes, wolves and cheetahs were not only bipedal, but also capable of sentient thought and linguistic communication as well as battling. What he didn't expect about this battle, however, was that there was one dragon on the side of the apes that seemed to be the leader.

Aster immediately began studying the movements of the dragons in the fight. Firstly, he saw that the dragons used elements as their weapons frequently as he did, but fought rather well for being on all fours. He also saw that their claws were their most used weapon on their body as well as their horns, but then he saw that they used their tails, some with blades, as weapons as well, and then they also used their wings as either shields or weapons if they had barbs on the joint. He took a second to look at his wings and saw that his barbs were a bit bigger than that of the adult dragon's barbs that he was watching.

He shifted his attention to a dragon that more resembled his caliber of power, a purple dragon. He noticed that this dragon attacked mercilessly with elements of every type, from fire to light. He also took into account that the leader of the apes was also a purple dragon, so he decided to be careful on how much of his fighting style to base on that particular type of dragon. He settled for a combination of the purple dragon's abilities and a black dragoness that he saw alongside him. He took both of their styles into consideration and began to formulate a style of fighting in his head; he took into account their aerial skills as well as their skills on the ground as well as his own limitations as a bipedal creature and differed them just enough so that it would work for him. Soon he had the perfect style in mind and dubbed it the Dragon Style, for the dragons were its namesake.

Then, he turned is attention to the rest of the creatures in turn. First he saw the apes and analyzed the way they attacked as well as took in their appearance.

The apes looked grotesque at best, and continuously drooled as they attacked. The dragons most definitely beat them in strength and intelligence, but Aster noticed that they were very tenacious and attacked in great numbers. He deduced then that the apes tended to fight in groups and though they weren't very strong, they were able to win most of their battles due to the sheer strength of numbers they had and the tenacity they exhibited.

He turned then to the cheetah's who tended to either fight with a single sword, or with a bow and arrow. He noted that they tended to use their footwork to confuse their enemy and then strike when they were confused. He also noted that they jumped around a lot and were obviously fast, so he reasoned that before he could do anything that resembled their fighting style, he would have to build up his speed and endurance.

He turned then to the wolves. He noted that the wolves were more aggressive than the cheetahs, mostly because they were slower and not as agile. The wolves tended to attack furiously and not give their opponents a chance fight back without being killed, this unfortunately got most of them killed as the apes they were fighting against couldn't care less about their lives, Aster made sure not to follow the example of the apes. He formulated a style in his head for the wolves and the cheetahs, knowing that he'd have to improve his agility for the Cheetah Style and his strength in general for the Wolf Style and even to a point the Dragon Style, but where he was, he could only manage the Dragon Style.

The scene then suddenly flashed to another battle, one with Cheetahs, Dragons, and a sole Human, against Apes and reptilian bug-like creatures. He further analyzed his subjects fighting style and further improved his styles and noted everything he saw, from strengths to weaknesses, that is until he saw the human.

The human he found intriguing, as though he had seen him before, so Aster analyzed him as well. He then noticed that for every stroke and every movement, the human's style was identical to Rayde's style of fighting. At first Aster reasoned it could have been his teacher, or an ancestor of Rayde's, _There's no way that he could be __**that**__ old…_

He decided to wait until the end of the battle to see who the human was, so he continued to analyze the fighting of the creatures before him.

Meanwhile, outside of Aster's mind, Aster was in a visible cocoon of colored energy, and he was floating within the kaleidoscope. A certain someone noticed this, and she was very worried.

Aqua first started watching Aster and Rayde when he came out into the meadow, where she nearly jolted at seeing a pair of huge dragon wings on his back. She now looked at him with a worried look on her face as she brushed some of her azure hair to reveal intense eyes thinking.

---_Flashback---_

"_Now you must be absolutely calm in order to control water, and even then you have to—" Leda looked up from the dish of water she currently had in front of her and noticed that Aqua wasn't even listening to her. She sighed and took a little bit of the water and tossed it at Aqua with her powers. Aqua jumped at the sudden splash and looked at Leda, who had a very annoyed look on her face._

"_Aqua, you're going to have to pay attention," Leda scolded, "I can't teach you the basics of controlling this element if all I'm talking to is the air, and that's Sora's job…"_

_Aqua chuckled at the little joke and Leda's expression softened. "I realize you care for this boy very deeply, and what's going on now, I have to admit is something I've never seen, but you have to trust me when I say that Ultima would not let anything happen that could potentially harm him." She turned and looked with soft eyes at the glowing cocoon that was Aster from the balcony in her room. "Ultima has told me himself that Aster is the closest thing he has ever had to a son, in all of his millennia, he has never had a wife, he was forever abstinent." She turned back and looked at Aqua, a determined look on her face, "The only way you can help Aster now, is to learn what he has learned and help him in this quest."_

_---End Flashback---_

Aqua knew what Leda said was true, but she couldn't help but worry about Aster; she remembered when she first recovered from the shock of Aster's wings. He began to fight with the other man, what was his name? Rhode? She couldn't remember, and was far too stressed to try now. When she saw that determined look in his eyes again, she thought he had gotten over whatever fears he may have had when he found out that she was coming, but then she saw that he barely spoke a word, and didn't speak when he didn't need to.

The usual Aster was someone that was extremely likeable, even those who he said that he didn't like said that they liked him as a friend, and that he was very reliable. But from the exterior of this Aster, which she thought looked very cute in the new outfit despite the wings, he was cold and hardened. She would have to find a way to get through to him, without actually meeting him face to face. She knew that he had recently learned how to read expressions, and from there micro-expressions, she knew that Aster had learned how to look for deception. That only made his shell even harder to get through, but she so desperately needed to get through it, so that she could acknowledge her mistake, if she even made one…

One floor down, Ultima, Dekrosna, and Rayde were observing what was happening to Aster. Rayde was confused, as was Dekrosna, but Ultima seemed to know what was going on, however, Dekrosna had other questions besides the ones about the current situation.

"What's happening to him?" Rayde beat him to it.

"I would imagine it's his Past/Future Sight coming to fruition." Ultima explained. "It's a common trait of a Diamond Dragon to see the past or the future, whichever is needed more at the time, while in a meditative state. Aster is merely coming across it from using his instincts, which I imagine, have told him to let the magical energy that one naturally sees in a meditative state to flow freely around him, thus the cocoon he's in now."

"How did you ever get him to come with you?" Dekrosna asked suddenly. Ultima turned with an incredulous look on his face, but Dekrosna wouldn't budge, "I know you had something to do with it, Ultima. What did you say to my cousin's parents that made them let him go so easily?"

Ultima sighed, "I was hoping to tell you all when the actual subject of this conversation was present." He looked to Dekrosna and saw his eyes, _No luck, well…here goes,_ "In order to tell you this and for you to follow, I'll have to tell you a story of an ancient dragon, one that was around before I even assumed a human form at my father's request."

_---Flashback---_

_In a clearing almost completely surrounded by mountains, a rather large silver dragon resided. He was one of the last of his kind and was the last of the dragons that fought for the side of the light. The Onyx Dragon had most of the other dragons successfully corrupted and fighting for him, there were even some bipeds on his side, but he refused to give up to him. _

_The other evil of the other dragons, however, had traveled to the humans and the remaining elves already, and so dragons were regularly hunted, and the hunter was richly rewarded if successful. The Silver Dragon was mournful at the loss of his race's purity and life, but he knew what was happening was meant to happen, the final Chronicler had told him that this was meant to be, and he was going to pass his powers on to a worthy host, through whom he would live and continue to fight for the good of all life on the planet._

_The White Isle now was a wasteland, destroyed by Onyx's minions, and the Chronicler with it, but at a heavy cost to him. The Chronicler's destruction greatly weakened him and his agents, as well as moving the Celestial Temple and its infinite knowledge to an undetectable place on the planet._

_Angered by this, Onyx began to destroy Human and Elf cities left and right. The Elves were nearly extinct, and they were sure that they opposed Onyx, but they still didn't want to follow the Dracorans, who were dealt with early by Onyx._

_The miracle of the Purple Dragon had also perished, as no purple dragon appeared after the great evil of Malefor was destroyed, instead the dragons that would have been purple were turned silver on their first birthday and most never lived long enough to gain the ultimate power that their purple ancestors had once possessed._

_This Silver Dragon was one such dragon, but was one of the rare few who, in every ten generations would survive to bring his power to fruition. Onyx tried to charm him into coming to his side, but he emphatically refused, remembering the principles of his honored ancestors Spyro and Cynder._

_Now he was facing off with several dragons and magicians, he couldn't tell if they were human or elf and he really could care less, he braced himself for the battle that would surely be fought._

"_Tell us, Silver one, will you join our master and bring honor to your life?" the lead dragon spoke, deception in his eyes._

"_How would I bring honor to my life when all I would do is destroy innocent lives for the hell of it?" The Silver Dragon retorted, "My answer is still the same as it always was before," He spread his wings in challenge, "Never in anyone's life!"_

"_Very well," The dragons readied themselves as the magicians began to chant, "You have sealed your fate."_

_The lead dragon jumped headlong at the silver dragon and he immediately dodged the blow, but before he was out of reach, he whipped his tail across the lead dragon's body, cutting open his side with the blade._

_When the lead dragon landed in a heap, the silver dragon was beside him in a split second and stabbed his tail blade in the dragon's neck, ending his life._

"_Anyone else?" the dragon challenged and a green dragon spit an earth bullet at him._

_Using his powers over the earth, the Silver Dragon redirected the blow and it hit one of the magicians that were still busy chanting, breaking every bone in his body and rendering him lifeless._

_The Silver Dragon then spewed a monsoon from his great maw, drowning two more dragons that couldn't swim in torrential waters._

_As the battle carried on, a golden Phoenix landed nearby at the top of a mountain and saw the battle. He observed with great naïveté that the Silver Dragon was the most powerful of all of the dragons in the valley._

_His observation rang true as the Silver Dragon finished off the last dragon with a resounding crack from his neck. Then he turned his attention to the remaining magicians, but a little too late._

_The magicians each began to fall one by one from the power gathering in the circle that they had formed during the battle. Each magician fell until one was left, he finished the spell and directed it at the Silver Dragon who could do nothing as it slammed into him over and over, injuring him greatly, but because of the stress of casting and finishing the spell, the last magician fell to join the others in death._

_The golden phoenix, aware that the battle was now over and the last-ditch effort made by the magicians came up fruitless was about to fly away, until he saw dragon hunters approaching the valley, weapons raised._

_The hunters were about to deliver the final blow, until one of their own began to kill or repel each hunter with the claymore he wielded. As he beheaded the leader the phoenix attacked the remaining hunters that the dragon's savior missed. _

_The hunters were now either beheaded corpses or piles of ash created by the combined efforts of the rogue hunter and the golden phoenix, the dragon looked at the hunter, caution in his eyes and asked, "Why did you help me?"_

_The hunter turned and faced him fully, no remorse was present in his face, "I became a dragon hunter to eliminate the evil of dragons, but I also am not stupid enough to believe that every dragon that is left in the world is evil. I believe that you are one of the few left that are not evil as you made no move to attack." Then he took a look around and saw a cave so the dragon would have shelter and could recover, "Can you walk?"_

"_I can limp at the very least." The dragon said nonchalantly, "I assume you want to go to that cave over there?" He pointed to the cave with is tail which was left remarkably unbroken._

"_Yes, I think that would be the best course of action for you right now." The dragon responded with a curt nod and struggled to rise to his feet._

_After about five tries to rise, and two falls to the ground the dragon, the phoenix, and the hunter were all in the cave, when the dragon began to speak, softly at first then rising in volume, "I will not survive this day." The hunter looked at him in surprise, "No, don't look at me like that. I know that I won't survive this day because that spell that was cast on me was more than just a spell to break my bones, it was a decay spell. My life feeds on the magic of the world, but now the world is taking the magic back because the spell is causing a reverse effect on me. By midnight tonight, I will be dead."_

_The hunter jumped to his feet, "That can't be! There must be a way to reverse or-or break the spell." He took of the helmet that previously concealed his face, revealing a man with shoulder-length black hair, a tan complexion, and cyan eyes, "There has to be a way… you are most likely the last of your kind that are not corrupt!"_

"_Noble hunter," The dragon started, "Your heart is pure, and though you wish to do something about the situation, I can only tell you that you cannot. It was foretold that when I meet a human of a pure heart, willing to sacrifice himself for the very thing that has been dubbed the bane of human kind, I will die, but not in the way that I have described. My body will die, but my soul will live on…in you." He moved to stand but he couldn't anymore, "Already my energy is draining from me." _

"_What do you mean…your soul will live on in me?" the hunter was utterly perplexed._

_The dragon lifted his paw, and his first two digits touched the center of the hunter's forehead and his heart respectively. "What're you—" the hunter was cut off by a blinding light coming from his head, heart, and the dragon's eyes. _

_The phoenix could see what was happening and was confused as to why the dragon would do this. He saw a translucent projection of the dragon exit his body and enter the hunter's body, changing the hunter's features as he entered._

_The light then faded and the dragon's body fell limp with a great thud. The hair of the hunter faded from black to silver, his cyan eyes now a sharp green, and finally his complexion was no longer tan, but porcelain white. _

_---End Flashback---_

"And that was the birth of the first Diamond Dragon in human form." Ultima finished.

Dekrosna looked on in interest, but Rayde was utterly befuddled, "Wait a moment…that phoenix you mentioned…was that you?"

Ultima nodded, "Yes that was I…before I got the sense to pass my powers onto this vessel, after some major convincing from my father, who was dying without his death nest. His spirit has since traveled on to…where ever they go after death. He lived his time."

"But onto the point," he moved to the balcony, hesitation evident in his features, "the Diamond Dragon has those certain key features as a human, silver hair, astoundingly green eyes, and porcelain complexion. I've kept my eye on this specific bloodline, and Aster's in it."

"I have followed them ever since I located the descendants of Sol, and have notified the Mother and Father of the child in question at their birth. I have worn many disguises, and have revealed myself to them only when I thought it was necessary."

"At first, Aster's parents didn't believe it, until I did the genetics test. His eyes were open and…I took a bit of blood that I had…well…gathered from Sol. His eye flashed silver and they believed what I said."

"I told them that I would have to come and take him so that he could gain control of his unawakened powers, they agreed that this plan was the best for him. I told them of the possibilities, but his Father said that 'Aster could take on the world if he had to,' so we made a deal. I would secretly watch over Aster, and take him when he was either attacked, or if he became aware of his powers."

"Wait." Dekrosna interjected, "He knew that he had something to do with his Father's death, so wouldn't he have become aware then?"

Ultima smiled wryly, "With our understanding he would have, but you'd be surprised how much Humans will "rationalize" things. He merely thought it was a freak lightning bolt for most of his life."

"Okay, so then what does that make Aster?" Rayde said, "And why was my teaching so unnatural to him?"

"Aster is a rare one." Ultima mused, "He isn't like Dekrosna in that he is a Dracoran, rather, he is fully dragon, and fully human, so he's similar. Eventually, his blood will be all Dragon, that's why your teaching was so unnatural to him; Dragons don't fight the way we do, theirs is a much more sophisticated style that would be more natural to his ancient blood."

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see then." Rayde said, Dekrosna nodding in agreement.

Ultima turned to look at Aster, who was coming out of the remains of the cocoon, "Yes…I suppose we will."

_I hope that this chapter is as good as I think it is. I tried to slow the pace down a little bit, as many of you told me that the story is a little on the rushed side. Tell me about the pace on this one, as well as what you think of Aster's lineage._

_I hope this makes up for the long wait, had to think about how I wanted to do this chapter. Hope it satisfies! _

_Review Please!_

_-Ultima_


	12. Time for Reconciliation

**Time for Reconciliation**

As Aster began to start swinging his swords around he began to think about the many styles that he had just formulated. Aster's mind was a sharp one, but that still didn't mean that there weren't flaws to his styles. The Dragon Style that he was currently using had one major flaw that Rayde could see. It didn't allow much room for improvisation.

_I recognize those movements, _Rayde inwardly smiled, _This will definitely be interesting; his dance is a deadly one, but one that can be easily defeated if I use the right attacks.  
_

Rayde turned away from Aster's practicing to continue to hear the history of the world, from the golden age of the Dragons to their fall and the rise of Humans after they were thought to be extinct with his death.

Aster continued his basic dance of blades in the style of the dragon until he was sure that he was used to it. He then continued the movements but added in the harder techniques that he witnessed in his vision.

He was a deadly whirlwind of blades in every second that he moved, until he added his wings into the picture, for which he needed to slow down.

_Looks like I'm gonna have to get used to using my wings for something __**other**__ than flying._ He thought.

He began again slashing and stabbing at imaginary enemies with both his wings and swords.

_Okay,_ He thought_ time to speed up._

He continued this pattern with his swords and wings on the ground until he was sure that he could deal with just about anything. Aster then flapped his wings twice and began a graceful, yet deadly attack pattern in the air.

_Okay, _he thought, _aerial fighting is much more awkward than fighting on the ground. Maybe I should go through some aerial exercises and maneuvers first before I begin using the swords._ He chuckled in spite of himself, _I'm becoming my own teacher!_

With a slight smile he began doing flips and spirals and many other complicated maneuvers both offensive and defensive in the air. He continued doing so until he caught a certain girl with azure hair and spacey eyes.

He hovered there for a few minutes while they just stared at each other, but once she became aware that it wasn't just anyone staring at her, but _Aster_, She ran out of his sight.

Aster remained stagnant in the air with a thoughtful expression on his face. Why did she run? Why did he see panic in her eyes? And why did he want to know all of a sudden?

As he asked himself these questions, he allowed himself to lower to the ground next to a small pond where he began absent-mindedly playing with the water using his powers.

_Why is it that I can't stay away from her? _He frowned lightly, _I can't be around her and that's that. She told me that she found someone else, so it would be for her own good, even if it hurts like hell. But what was with that mix of feelings that I saw in her face while I hovered there?_

His thoughts were cut off by a plunk in the water. He parted the water to see what fell in to see a clear glass ball with a note inside. He then used the water to bring it over to him and see what was inside.

He opened the sphere and saw who the letter was from, Aqua.

_For the answer to all of your questions and for a resolution to this tiring situation between us, meet me here at the pond after sunset, while the moon is at its peak._

_-Aqua_

Why did she want to see him? He shook his head and set his jaw. "I need to focus right now." He muttered.

So he lifted into the air and began his aerial exercises again and repeated them several times before suddenly adding his swords and wings to the mix.

The speed with which he did his dance in the air was astounding, however Rayde didn't see a bit of it; Ultima made sure of that,

_He wanted improvement; well I'll give him improvement._ He smiled to himself as he continued his story to Dekrosna and Rayde.

Rayde looked up at one of the many clocks in the study and saw that Aster's time was up. He rose and began walking out the door.

"Oh, not without me you're not." Ultima quipped, and so the walked to the meadow together to see Aster waiting expectantly and playing absentmindedly with the water of the pond.

"I take it you're ready to begin again?" Rayde said, drawing his fang sword.

"Yes." Aster stopped playing with the water and stood up, and then to Rayde and Ultima's surprise, he walked across the pond _(A/N- Yes, on the water people!)_ to stand in front of them.

"I see you've not been slacking on your elements," Ultima commented, bewilderment in his eyes, "It took Leda much longer to master actually _walking_ on the water."

"She told me a secret or two, like I have to be in a calm mindset instead of frustrated." Aster said off-handedly.

Aster drew his swords and said, "Are we gonna use the barriers like last time, Ultima?"

"Indeed we are." Ultima proceeded to apply the protective barriers to their swords, and then walked to his previous vantage point on the top of a boulder next to the pond.

Rayde immediately took his stance, _I know this stance,_ Aster thought, _He's serious now. Good, that'll make it more interesting._ He smiled inwardly before he took his stance, his right arm by his head and his sword pointing toward Rayde, his left hand out front but his sword pointed up at an angle.

Rayde had to blink a couple of times before he actually saw Aster. _He looks exactly like an adolescent Dragon on his hind legs, his wings are even spread in open challenge to me._ Rayde nodded once.

Ultima looked at both of the swordsmen and knew that they were sizing each other up; Ultima already could tell that those three hours were enough for drastic improvement on Aster's part. _Now it's time he puts it into practice._ He thought in anticipation.

Rayde lunged at Aster's legs and he sidestepped, attacking Rayde's left shoulder, but missing because of Rayde's last minute dodge-roll. They were back up to a stand off, standing still for at least ten seconds before Aster made a lunge to Rayde.

Rayde caught his first attack but had to dodge the second and was immediately knocked off balance from the third. He was now on the defensive; a side of the battle that he did not like to be on. He dodged Aster's many attacks and the ones he couldn't dodge he blocked until Aster suddenly stopped and launched himself into the air and made some distance between himself and Rayde.

_That's not going to work. _He observed, _Either I'm going to have to attack his left continuously, or I'm going to have to improvise, but what to do…_

He attacked Rayde again, but with much greater speed, and still using only his swords, until he saw an opening.

Rayde knew that Aster saw the opening when he saw his bright green eyes dilate and focus on the spot, but what attacked wasn't what he thought would. His wing barb immediately thrust forward and he narrowly dodged a bloody, torn-up right shoulder.

At that, Ultima called a pause in the fight. "We're here to train each other, not kill each other." He said when he began putting the barrier on Aster's wing barbs. Aster then began calling at him telepathically.

'_You might want to put that barrier on the field around us; soon I'll implement what elements that I've learned.' _He chuckled to himself, nodded and then cast a field barrier, placing a protective barrier on anything that might kill or injure.

Rayde then attacked unexpectedly, but found himself only attacking air as Aster jumped away. Aster grinned and then launched into the air and began swooping at Rayde, knowing he had the advantage.

_Damnit, _Rayde cursed, _I didn't think he was this smart. He knows that I can't reach him without expending energy. Those wings of his are natural where mine would be made purely from crystal. Looks like I have no choice._ Rayde blocked an attack from Aster, formed his wings, blocked another attack, and launched into the air, chasing him.

Aster smirked, "Gotcha." He turned and sent a compact whirlwind at Rayde, sending him for a loop, knocking him to the ground, and breaking his wings of crystal.

As Rayde stood up, Aster dove straight for him, but he wasn't holding his swords. Rayde dodged his dive and looked at him, _What was he trying to do?_ Then realization dawned on him and he blocked one sword and dodged the other. He looked at the sword he had in blade lock and noticed the slight garnet glow to it, _Earth Element, damn!_ He dislodged the sword and narrowly dodged its twin, before he noticed a line of stalagmites coming straight for him. He jumped backwards only to be knocked of balance by the disembodied twin swords and then he tripped over a tree root from a nearby copse of trees.

He was beaten Aster's swords were at his neck and there was nothing he could do. If he knocked away the swords, the stalagmites would hit him, skewering him. If he tried to dodge the stalagmites, the swords would slit his throat. Rayde threw away his sword; he knew when he was beaten.

Aster appeared out of the ground, "Do you give?"

Rayde nodded, "Yes, and let me say, I am thoroughly impressed." He smiled when Aster offered him a hand up.

Rayde accepted it, but Aster knew that Rayde was holding back. Had that been a real fight, Aster would have lost easily, and he knew that. _I still have a ways to go._ He thought resolutely.

Ultima came up to the two applauding. "That was fantastic, Aster." His eyes showed laughter and Aster felt proud, yet humble at the same time.

"Yes, that was a very ingenuitive way to use your swords, well done." Rayde said determination in his eyes. "I think that I'll have myself a very good spar partner in the near future, eh Ultima?"

"Yes that's exactly what I think will happen," Ultima laughed, "He certainly is capable."

"Yes, but now he must get back to his elemental studies as well as those concerning magic, correct?" Rayde smiled knowingly.

"Yes, yes, there is that." Ultima puzzled. "But there will be time for him to spar." The smile returned to his face. "Now I think that we, "we" being you two, need some rest, am I right?"

"Actually, I feel fine." Aster lied; _I don't want to leave the meadow. I might as well stay here, but I could use a good stretch._

"I think I'll take you up on that offer, Ultima." Rayde accepted.

"Okay, Aster I'll leave you to your own devices then, okay?" He said knowingly, _Something's going to happen, but what is the question; I'd better keep an eye on him this afternoon, oh, it is already this evening isn't it._ "Come Rayde, there is some other things which I neglected to mention to you before." And with that, Ultima and Rayde were once again gone in the temple.

Aster approached the pond, trying to organize his warring emotions. "For what reason does water seem to calm me?" He randomly asked no one. He again began absentmindedly began to play around with the water using his powers.

"She has someone else. If she wants to cut off all relationship with me, then fine." He brooded. "They, whoever they are, better be taking care of her…" He trailed off.

"Why do I feel so dejected?" He muttered, "And if not that, why do I see rage in my face every time that I think of whomever she's with!" His voice grew in volume with every word.

He sighed, "Why do I feel this way only around her?" He calmed the water that he had previously turned into a whirlpool, "Is this feeling jealousy? Why am I jealous?"

He suddenly felt distaste toward himself, "Perfect, Aster. You're pushing away the only person that can answer those questions!" He splashed the water angrily and snapped out of his rage when some fell on his face, instantly calming him.

He remained the rest of the day playing with the water, or working on water techniques.

When the moon was at its peak and Aqua finally walked out into the pond, she heard splashing in the direction she was going.

"I guess he never left." She said, her hands fidgeting.

She continued on and decided to go through the copse of trees near the pond so she could see what he was doing, and what she saw astonished her.

Aster was practically glowing in the moonlight as he moved the water around in the air creating new techniques that were beautiful, and deadly to any unaware of its power. She looked for his eyes and when she finally glimpsed them she saw that they were soft, determined, and yet ambivalent. _Are his emotions warring against each other? He's torn at what to do? Then how his he controlling the water so precisely?_

As she was thinking these things she absentmindedly let down her left hand and a twig snapped. And Aster's eyes flew open and all the water fell into the pond, yet he stayed as he was, still and calculating.

"You can come out now, Aqua." He said his voice without feeling. She rose and appeared from the trees and looked to his eyes, but immediately wished she hadn't. What she saw were not the eyes of the Aster that she wanted to see. His eyes were solid ice and his expression completely stoic. She didn't want to speak to this Aster so she asked the main question on her mind, "Why did you run?"

She saw a flash of confusion run across his eyes, but was quickly concealed, "What?"

"Why did you run from me on that day?" She knew she was wearing her emotions on her sleeve, but at this point, she didn't care, she wanted the real Aster back. She wanted _**her**_ Aster back. "You didn't let me finish."

"There was nothing else to say." He snapped she saw that his ruse was breaking; the rage and jealousy was plain in sight before he reeled it in.

"Once again, you didn't let me finish!" She said harshly, "I was going to tell you something else, but at this point I don't know if you are the one I want to talk to. What _happened _to you, Aster?"

He was confused and she saw it, "You act as if you have had your emotions run ragged, been in one thousand battles in which you lost your dearest friends, and you act as if you had been betrayed a hundred times! None of that has happened and you know it!" She walked out onto the water to close a little distance. "Why did you change?"

"You wouldn't understand." He spat, "You never would have, and even now you never—" he was cut off by a slap across the face.

Aqua was visibly shaking now, shaking in rage. The water surrounding them started to move as in agreeing to her sentiment. "You really think I wouldn't understand? How long have I known you, you idiot!" She slapped him again. "I'd never get the chance to understand if you don't talk to me damnit!"

Aster's ruse had finally broken and he was shaken emotionally. He saw what had happened to his friend. With his vision cleared from his own sentiments he could see that she was hurt, betrayed even, and angry. But under all of that, there was still concern for him, even though she just slapped him twice. _Wait, she just slapped me! __**Twice!**_

"You want to know what's wrong?" the water began to act as if it were boiling, "**I'm so fucking confused about what I feel that I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO FEEL ANYMORE!"** The water reacted to his outburst and rocketed upward and brought Ultima and Leda running to their balconies to see what was going on.

The water to both of their faces calmed them down, but not enough to stop Aster's rampant emotions. "I act the way I do because I have felt confused. Everything that has happened lately shouldn't be possible, but it is, and you are involved in it as well!" He yelled blindly. He turned and walked to the edge of the pond his voice considerably softer, "I still don't know what to feel…"

Aqua did something that she knew he needed, she knocked him off balance with a wave and caused him to fall into the pond with a splash. She started laughing even as he surfaced glaring at her, his pupils nothing short of feral. Then he started laughing himself once he could stand again. "Thanks, Aqua, I needed that badly." He said mirthfully. "What were you going to tell me earlier?"

Aqua looked into his eyes and knew that he was the one that she was looking for; he had come back to her. "I turned him down, there's another that I'm waiting for, but he's too oblivious to see it. But how about this, we start over from where we left off and act like that whole misunderstanding never happened."

Aster turned around walked a little more, as he was now next to Aqua, "Depends," He looked at her over his shoulder with a smirk, "on if you can beat me in a water duel."

Aqua's competitiveness kicked in and said, "Oh, you're on mister Diamond Dragon." Aster grinned and took his stance as Aqua took hers.

Ultima and Leda looked at each other, nodded, and subtly began to effect changes to their field. Ultima took the light from the moon and began to increase it slightly and angle it and Leda took the little droplets of water and allowed them to float around the two.

These changes went unnoticed by Aster and Aqua as they began their duel. They matched each other water blade for water blade and continued to gracefully match each other in a deadly dance of blades.

Aqua took this time to actually see Aster as he was naturally; she knew that he loved the water. With his pale skin, green eyes that seemed to glow, silver hair and dragon wings, he looked nothing short of ethereal, and the droplets like diamonds in the air only accented what she saw. She was so mesmerized by what she saw that she barely put up a water shield in time to block the spiral water blade attack that Aster sent her way, but this time their positions were now reversed.

Aster took in her appearance with the moon in the background as well as the floating diamonds around them. She looked completely celestial. Her blue hair sparkled with the residual splashes from their otherwise innocent-looking dance, and her dark eyes held determination that he saw in no other. Her skin shined against the moonlight and her beauty was only increased by Ultima and Leda's subtle changes. She began a finishing sequence and Aster decided that he would take a dive. _She won't like it, but she doesn't know what I can do with this stuff; I don't wanna hurt her._

Aster blocked two hits and dodged three others before faking a trip and Aqua delivered the finisher, a water blade poised at his neck.

Aster chuckled at his supposed clumsiness and Aqua did too. He looked into her eyes and saw the disappointment at his dive, but also understanding that she was not yet ready to battle him for real. They let the water fall and Leda did as well. Ultima then subtly decreased the light to its natural level while Aqua helped Aster up.

"We're cool right?" Aqua asked.

"Of course." Aster laughed, "That was better than I thought it would be."

"What do you mean?" Aqua moved slightly closer to him.

"Well for one, I had fun with the water duel." Aster explained. "I was actually glad that you had it at the pond, I wouldn't have been very civil anywhere else."

Aqua laughed and said, "That is true, that is very true."

_Okay, I don't have anything really to blame the lateness of this chapter on, except laziness (Procrastinators UNITE…tomorrow) so I'm really sorry that I didn't get this out as early as I wanted to. _

_Alright, I need someone as a beta, or really just to check over what I've written on my first draft so that it would be that much better for here, so anyone wanna take a crack at it? PM me if you're interested and I'll tell you what I'd need from you and such because I'd send the draft as an attachment through email._

_As for reviews, I'd like to thank everyone that has been keeping up with this. Just to let you all know, I like long detailed reviews that REALLY tell me what you think. Just be sure that it's the right kind of criticism. There is such a thing as DE-structive criticism; I want CON-structive criticism. As far as flames go, look at my profile page, I have a little place set up specifically for that._

_Until next time!_

_-Ultima _


	13. The Seeds of Doubt

**The Seeds of Doubt**

In a fairly tropical area, there was a cover of shadow in the normally sunny weather. Most thought nothing of this as it was around the time for a solar eclipse and as unpredictable as the solar cycles can be, none gave it much thought.

That sentiment was not shared by four figures that slunk into the forest as discreetly as they could because they knew the real cause of this haze.

The silver and black haired man continued into the jungle after a pause and said to the blue haired woman on his left, "Leda, what's the status of the Force Point?"

Leda stopped for a moment and concentrated then looked around wildly, "We don't have much time! It's 75% corrupted, and we can't let it get past 95% or it will just corrupt itself!"

The silverette swore softly and pulled out a kunai knife from a holster on his leg, "Artemis, how far are we from the temple?"

The hybrid in question knelt to the ground and placed her hand on the ground. "Not too much farther, Aster. I can't tell too much because of all the interference this shadow haze has on my powers."

"Okay then, time to test this spell out." The silver haired man, now named Aster, said.

Aster began chanting in the ancient language of the Egyptians until he raised his voice to cast the spell, his hands on his closed eyes, "**Irt nyt Horus! (Eye of Horus!)**"

He opened his eyes to show that they were the eyes of an eagle and glowing gold. He focused his eyes and spoke, "There are three, maybe four people in the temple just ahead. I can't identify who they are though, not enough practice with this spell." He smiled sheepishly.

The other blue haired woman merely shook her head in amusement, "You're spending too much time dueling Rayde to get in any kind of practice aren't you Aster?"

"No! I'm just…well," Aster hesitated.

"You're just what?" She asked.

"Oh shut up Aqua!" Aster huffed.

"Yep, thought so." The now named Aqua smiled cheekily.

The four continued onward quietly to try and get the drop on their foes until they heard the tell-tale signs of being discovered.

"You think they'll stay up there for much longer, Sasha?" a blonde haired woman asked.

"I don't know Fulgora, I mean their pretty raw, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned tail and run." The two women laughed at their joke, simultaneously enraging a certain hybrid and water mistress.

As they were joking around, a third figure standing a little ways away in the shadow began chanting a spell. As he was chanting, the shadows in the area began to darken and move as if they were alive. Suddenly he stopped and shouted the name of the spell, "**Kuchiyose: Kage no Ikari! (Summoning: Wrath of the Shadows!)"**

Aster threw the kunai he was holding towards the caster in order to stop the spell, but a hand rose from the shadows surrounding the caster, thereby stopping the attack.

"Oh no," Artemis growled, "they've brought in the Shadow Envoy."

"Shadow Envoy?" Aqua questioned, "All I see is a bunch of ninjas dressed in black."

"Exactly." Leda nodded, "Thankfully they're not shinobi but regular ninjas, but that makes them no less dangerous because they're made out of the shadows themselves."

"Okay, so here's the plan." Artemis stepped forward, "I'll take the Shadow Caster over there, Leda you take Ms. Squid face over there, and Aqua can take on Sparky while Aster takes on the Shadow Envoy."

"Why does Diamondhead get the ninjas?" Aqua asked.

"Hey!" Aster growled in mock anger, "I told you not to call me that!"

"He gets the ninja because he's the best at hand-to-hand combat, or what these ninja call Taijutsu." Leda interjected, catching on to Artemis's plan.

"Exactly." Artemis confirmed, "I get the Caster because they fight mostly with magic, Leda gets squid face because she has a higher control of water than you do Aqua. You get Sparky because you can easily short her out, making her powers useless."

Aqua nodded in understanding and began to chase Fulgora until she heard her announce a spell **"****Ηλεκτρικό****Μεταβίβαση**** (Electric Transference)!"**

The lightning woman suddenly turned into pure electricity and disappeared into the sky with a crack of thunder.

"Wow…she's gone." Aqua deadpanned.

"Yeah 'cause she's full of shit now get over here!" Artemis commanded.

"Okay, okay!" Aqua moved over to where Artemis and Leda stood.

"New plan," Artemis started, "Aster's already started on the Envoy, so you get to help him Aqua."

"Okay then." She said, _I swear if they disappear too then I'm gonna flip. _She thought with a bloodthirsty glint in her eye.

"Uhhh…ya think that we've let her hang out with Scry too often?" Artemis sweatdropped.

"Duh, but there's nothing we can do about it." Leda sighed.

_Aqua & Aster_

As Aster continued fighting the ninjas with his swords and kunai, he began to get a overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them and their teamwork, until a wave of water splashed him and the ninjas accompanied by a whip that turned all the immediately close ninja into pure shadow, but coincidentally or purposely also whipped Aster in the ass.

_The fuck? _ Aster thought with a blush, _Was that on purpose or was that completely on accident?_

Aqua leaped down beside him and winked before using her whip to destroy more of the ninjas.

_Yep,_ He deadpanned, _that was on purpose. Aqua-chan has been hanging around Scry too much._

He continued to fight the ninja absently before he nearly got his eyes gouged out by one of the ninja.

"Come on Aster-kun," Aqua admonished, "You've gotta get your head in the game!"

"I know, I know." He said before he jumped over her head and slashed two more into oblivion, "You've gotta do the same Aqua-chan." He smirked

Aqua blushed hotly before she turned and started taking her anger and embarrassment out on the rest of the shadow ninjas.

_Leda_

The two were in a stare down. Leda's Poseidon's Gears floating in a helix around her, ready to strike out whenever she wished and Sasha looking back at her coolly as if nothing were wrong.

"You know I was hoping to fight that half-breed for that squid face comment but it seems you'll have to do." She said with a sinister smirk.

Leda remained silent and continued to stare at her as the air around the two began to get more and more humid.

"Silent treatment huh?" Sasha quipped, "Fine, I'll show you a good time then."

She waved her arm and several spears of water lanced out of the ocean off to the side straight at Leda who wasn't moving.

Sasha smirked thinking she caught her off guard, but it quickly turned into a frown when the Poseidon Gears quickly intercepted the spears and absorbed them causing the gears to give off a soft glow.

Leda smiled, raising her arms and created a drill out of the abundant water in the air and sent it right at Sasha who was forced to dodge, but didn't realize that this was a distraction as the Poseidon Gears slammed into her, forcing her into the water.

This proved to be a mistake as a whirlpool erupted from where she fell in seconds after she fell in and Leda brought in a wave of water to shield herself before she started chanting in Italian.

Sasha, realizing that Leda was up to something, expanded the whirlpool trying to throw her off balance, but cursed when she opened her eyes.

The Poseidon Gears flew straight in to the water before they started forming something out of the water through the magic energy being channeled through them.

"**Creature****dell'acqua****, ****vieni fuori!****Io chiamo****te****, ****Hydra****! (Creature of the water come forth! I summon thee, Hydra!)"** Her voice echoed.

A dragon-like creature made completely of water rose from the depths. It's six eyes on the three heads were the same soft blue that the Poseidon Gears were before they dove into the water. It was massive and with one roar the maelstrom that Sasha instigated stopped.

Sasha's only thoughts were, _Ok, now we're getting somewhere..._

_Artemis_

_Ok, I've got a Shadow Caster that seems to be completely out of it, but I know he's got something planned, but the question is, what? _A certain hybrid thought.

The Caster opened his eyes and the area surrounding both him and Artemis darkened greatly.

_Shit! This one's Japanese! _She cursed, _The Japanese have the greatest repetoire of shadow magic, whether they know it or not._

She suddenly disappeared and reappeared insantaneously behind the caster and tried to stab him with a dagger but was blocked by a staff before he disappeared into the shadows.

_Crap, _she thought, _where is he?_

A multitude of shadow-made blades appeared all around the space manipulator and began to stab and slash at her. Her experience in fighting the only thing saving her she hid behind some cover while placing a gravitic barrier to protect her from the semi-solid blades.

_It looks like I have no choice but to use my double-edged blade of a spell. _She thought reluctantly, _here goes..._

Artemis began chanting with her eyes closed, never noticing that the shadow-blades have long disappeared and the Shadow Caster appeared on the far side of the shadow that he had initially cast, as if in wait for something.

_Aster & Aqua_

Aster and Aqua were making the Shadow Envoy look like children once they stopped playing. Aster had barely saved himself from a deep slash across the chest before he decided to summon his wings and blow them away.

"How's that wound Aqua-chan?" He inquired while staying vigilant. He learned the hard way that just because he couldn't see the ninja, didn't mean that they weren't there watching him.

"Hang on a sec Aster-kun," She chanted a few words before whispering, **"****Chiyu no nagare (Healing Flow)."**

Water encased her leg where she was earlier slashed by a shuriken and glowed a soft blue before slowly fading to green and then flowed off her leg, completely healed.

"I might have some phantom pains, but I'll live" She nodded to him.

"Okay, what do you say we finish this?" Aster proposed, his eyes shining with confidence.

"After you." She replied playfully.

He smirked then turned to the predicted area the ninjas hiding and began chanting while keeping his still golden eagle eyes open.

Recognizing the spell that Aster was using, Aqua smiled mischievously before walking forward till she was a couple feet in front of Aster before she prepared to attack by summoning another whip to her left hand made completely of water.

"**Shinigami no Tacchi! (Touch of the Death God!)"** Suddenly the area began to darken, as if by a cloud, even though the sky was clear. As the spell began taking affect, the ninja began to fall from their hiding places, their energy forcibly drained from their bodies, before Aqua began to destroy them one after the other until there were none left.

"That's all of them Aqua-chan." Aster said closing his eyes and reopening them to show his original emerald dragonic eyes.

"Okay, let's see how the others are doing." Aqua suggested.

Aster nodded before they heard a great watery crash. They looked at each other then rushed off towards Leda's position.

_Leda_

Leda was having a tough time holding her own against Sasha's own water construct, what she called the Kraken and was losing energy fast. Sasha's Kraken was closing in on her Hydra before a loud spell was heard.

"**Ankh nyt Ra! (Ankh of Ra!)"** A large golden image of an ankh appeared on all four sides of Leda's hydra protecting her from the Kraken's attack. Sasha, seeing this became angered and had her construct continue to attack the barrier, but in her blind rage, she didn't see that the image of the Ankh grew brighter with each attack.

Aster, the caster of the spell flinched with each attack that the water construct inflicted on his barrier, "I can't take much more!" He flinched two more times, "That's it! **Kai! (release!)"**

The barrier glowed brighter before repelling and completely destroying the construct with a beam in the same shape as the barrier itself.

The beam threw off Sasha's balance giving Leda the opening she needed. She attacked with her formerly protected Hydra which had since grown a head and hit her hard.

"Ok, you little brats! You may have beaten me today, but you won't next time!" and she suddenly disappeared when a wave came and overtook her.

_Artemis_

Artemis has continued chanting while the Caster remained where he is, his body still obscured by the surrounding shadow and his black robes. She was suspicious with the lack of attacks from him, but paid it no mind.

_If he doesn't wanna attack, then I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. _She thought as she continued chanting.

"**Yerçekimi****Ezmek! (Gravity Crush!)" **The Hybrid roared as a mist of power began to roll off her.

The Caster knew his life was at an end when he felt the gravity around him beginning to grow heavier, but he did one last thing before he died. **"****Giwaku no Shīzu. (Seeds of Doubt)"**

One small, seed shaped shot of darkness darted into Artemis's chest, causing her to start backwards and begin to cough.

And just as he was about to die from the crushing force of the gravity around him, he used on last spell, **"Seigyo no Shīzu (Seeds of Control)."** The spell sent two seeds of darkness to her head, causing her to black out as he died.

_Undisclosed Location_

Rogue opened her eyes as she felt the energy of her caster dissipate from the Water Force Point. Fulgora standing in front of her Rogue sat up straight in her seat and said, "My Shadow Caster has been killed."

"And the Force Point has been saved." Sasha said sarcastically with a cold smirk in place.

Rogue kept the mask of indifference on her face until she felt the last images come in from her Caster. She then smiled maliciously, "It looks like my real plan has succeeded, happening upon the caster's death no less." She laughed evilly as she explained what she planned to do with her new found puppet.

-End Chapter-

_So that is Chapter 12. I'm again sorry for the great delay in getting this out, but I have other things to do that absolutely must take precedence over this so…yeah._

_Again, any suggestion you may have (or guesses as to what Rogue is going to do next) will be welcomed, just please say them in a polite manner and actually KNOW what you're talking about, if you don't know what you're talking about, then I'm not gonna listen._

_Another thing, on my profile there are a few challenges that I might write after I'm done with this and my other two fics. If you find them interesting and wish to write them (the summaries there are just examples of the basic plotline with a short explanation immediately following) then, be my guest, I just wish to know so that I may read it too. _

_Until next time!_

_-Ultima_


	14. And the Clock Hand Ticks

**And the Clock-Hand Ticks**

The shadow field that contained Artemis and the now deceased Shadow Caster began to dissipate showing to the remaining elementals that a not too serious battle took place, though they did notice a rather concentrated crater where wisps of shadow continued to rise from.

"She got him," Leda sighed, "I was afraid that she might have some trouble."

"Why's that?" Aqua scrunched her face up in thought.

"Because, my young apprentice," Leda turned to Aqua, "no matter how powerful an elemental is, if they face an elemental within their element, they will have some problems. When the Caster cast his shadow field while we were busy, he fulfilled that requirement. She was from that point on in his element until his death."

"Ohhh, I see," realization dawning on Aqua's face.

"Well, I got one more spell to use before we do anything," Aster began, "but first, we need to find Artemis."

They split up to search for their fellow elemental and resident hybrid so that they could purify the Force Point and head back to the Temple of Time. Aqua and Aster continued walking together towards the crater that seemed to be the center of the battlefield, until Aster froze.

"Leda-sensei!" Aqua frantically called out, "She's over here, and she's out cold!"

Leda whipped around at the sound of here student's voice and ran over to their location to see that the space-and-gravity-manipulator was indeed unconscious and was tossing and turning fitfully, as if locked in a nightmare.

"Hold on!" She ran over and knelt by her friend, putting a hand to her forehead before jerking it back as if it was burned, "Damn, she's burning up!"

"Hang on," Aster stepped back, kneeling down with his hands over Artemis's body, "Aqua-chan, can you help a bit?"

"Sure," She pulled up some water from the nearby shore and directed it to flow around Artemis, **"Reikyaku Sutorīmu (Cooling Stream)," **the now frigid water continued to flow around Artemis until it gradually began to get closer to her. It eventually stopped flowing and became a pool under her, but became no less cold under Aqua's power.

Aster, meanwhile, was whispering a Japanese incantation that would not only help Artemis, if only a little, but it would also reenergize the rest of them and purify the Force Point, **"Kami no Hikari (Light of Kami*),"** he whispered before a bright light began to radiate from his body to wash the area in its radiance.

The haze that was brought upon the area as a result of the Force Point's corruption began to thin as the three conscious elementals felt their energy regenerate and any wounds they sustained began to knit back together until the light finally dimmed.

Aster let out a sigh from the mental strain of maintaining the spell to do so much before he asked, "How is she doing, Leda-sensei?"

"Better, but I don't know why she's still unconscious," Leda's eyes reflected the confusion of her students as that spell was made specifically to heal all physical ailments.

"Wait." Aster stepped forward and looked at her head and then changed angles several times, bewildering his companions. "It's as I thought. Kami no Hikari was made to heal all physical wounds, but this isn't a physical wound, it's a magically induced mental wound. Her mind has been drawn in to do battle with whatever the Shadow Caster planted into her."

"Okay then," Leda said, still looking at Artemis in confusion, "we should bring her back to the temple so that Ultima can know of what is going on."

"It's a good thing that I've already had my training with her, even though she put me through hell…" Aster continued to grumble about "slave-driving hybrids" and "evil gravity wells" before he put his arm out straight and focused.

With a chop straight down, a portal opened and the three conscious elementals and one unconscious elemental stepped through the portal before it reknitted itself closed, its purpose complete.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Reappearing through the rip in space, the party of four walked again on the island where the Temple of Time was located. One looked at the majestic temple in nervousness while another looked at in smugness.

"Your aim was off again, Aster-kun." Aqua, the smug one said.

Aster hung his head in defeat, "I know…"

With feigned sternness, Leda intervened, "You two haven't been betting behind my back again have you?"

Aqua looked at her teacher nervously, "Uhhh…no?" she cringed at the sternness in her voice, until she saw the laughter in her eyes, denoting that she was teasing.

"She had you there, Aqua-chan!" Aster laughed at her expense.

Before Aqua jumped her silverette friend, Leda again intervened for the sake of time, "Okay guys, we need to get in there to see Ultima about Artemis, I don't like the diagnosis Aster gave at the force point; It makes me think that there was something more to this attack."

They both answered with a quiet "okay" before following their teacher in the arts of the element of water.

Entering the Temple, they immediately saw Fringe reading a book in a language that neither quite understood yet but the other could read, write, and speak fluently. He looked up and saw Artemis and the grave look on Leda's face and he immediately stood up to guide them to where Ultima was.

"What happened to her?" He asked rather callously.

"She was struck by a spell as she killed a Shadow Caster." Leda curtly answered and Fringe scoffed.

"She never watches her back." He said arrogantly. He would have said more if not for the glowing of Leda's eyes and her impatient posture.

"Fringe, I usually have a lot of patience, but I don't right now." She said shortly, "I am not going to listen to your prattling on how you're better than everyone else here when half of us can kick your ass and one of us is injured and fighting for her mind."

Fringe flinched at her tone and righteous anger towards him and looked toward the other two in her company and flinched at what he saw in their eyes, one pair of blue maelstrom-like orbs and a pair of green glaciers, both directed at him. It appeared that they weren't in the mood for his mouth either.

"Fine, I get the hint." He said dejectedly.

"Get this through your thick skull, Fringe" Aster said coldly, "no one here is going to stroke your ego, so drop the arrogant attitude, or Satre and I will beat it out of you!"

For a third time Fringe flinched, remembering when Aster was finally able to commune with his alter ego, the Obsidian Dragon, also known to them as Satre. When they are fighting alone, Aster and Satre have their strengths and weaknesses, different for each one true enough, but the fact remained that they had weaknesses. Aster's being his lack of experience or his lack of knowledge, and Satre's being his prideful attitude and his lack of restraint. When put together however, these weaknesses are eliminated, making them a juggernaut of power.

His first time communing with Satre happened earlier that year

/ _Flashback \\\\\\_

"_Now, you can't learn to use light to its full potential until we have all of you." Ultima began, "So, that means we're going to go back into your mind to release and commune with that part of you that's been locked away until now."_

"_What do you mean, Ultima-tou-san?" Aster asked._

_Ultima felt a flutter throughout his body when he heard "tou-san" added to his name. He knew that Aster had lost his real father at a young age due to the first manifestation of his powers, particularly over lightning and thunder and blamed himself for that and in turn distanced himself from his mother to prevent it from happening again. He never knew that Aster had gotten so close to him in the few months that he had helped him and his family. Really the only reason he was doing that was to keep an eye on the heir to the Silver Dragon, more aptly named the Diamond Dragon, but get closer to the kid he became and eventually he began to see the silverette as a son himself._

"_What I mean is that you have to commune with Satre, the piece of shadow within you. By communing with him, you'll purify him of all evil, and he'll just be pure shadow, rather than darkness. The Diamond Dragon has a piece of every element within him, Shadow included." He explained._

"_Okay I guess…" Aster hesitantly conceded, "I just hope that he doesn't come out to play again."_

"_Don't worry about that." Ultima reassured him, "I'll be there with you in case something goes wrong."_

_Aster nodded and they both began to meditate, back to back._

_\\\\\\ Flashback End /_

The result of that communion was terrifying to say the least. Aster's power jumped quite dramatically and that was left to be his secret weapon, as only a few of his teachers...and victims knew of it.

They approached Ultima in the library of the temple where he they were accompanied by Dekrosna and Rayde when he began to speak.

"I know of the ailment that Artemis has." He said not looking up from the ancient tome in front of him. "It was cast by a Shadow Caster, correct?"

"Yes." Aster said, "Tou-san, my Kami no Hikari spell didn't purify her as it should have."

"Well that's no surprise." Ultima finally looked up to look at his surrogate son. "The Japanese were always more concentrated with their Shadow Magic. Light was never their forte. Now the Greek, they are another story, but that's for another time."

He walked up to Artemis and placed a hand on her head, then one on her heart. "He got her good." He grunted, "She's fighting for the right to run her own body. I will try to help her as much as I can, but I can only do so much. It's up to her now."

Light began to pour out of his hands as he concentrated on her mind, "I'm working to isolate the battle for her body. This could help her or hurt her, I don't know which, but for now she's a flight risk." The light dimmed and he looked up, wiping some sweat from his brow, "We need to keep an eye on her when she wakes up. It could be her, it could be Rogue, or it could be her controlled or convinced to betray us by Rogue. As it is, all we can do is wait."

Leda looked up with stricken eyes at the verdict dealt by their leader. His unspoken order was heard loud and clear by the water mistress '_If she betrays us, we will have to kill her' _and she didn't want to comply. Sure she and the warrior of gravity and space didn't always get along and constantly annoyed the other, but she was her best friend, and she knew deep down under all that roughness that was Artemis, she felt the same way. She hoped to any god that existed that Artemis would win the battle of wills taking place in her body.

As each of the warriors left the room, Dekrosna's eyes suddenly glowed faintly, so faintly that no one other than him noticed. He sat down and looked directly at Artemis as this was one of the very rare times that he had the opportunity to get a vision of the future.

/ _Vision \\\\\\_

_A cloud of darkness and a wash of light are connected by a cord._

_This cord suddenly becomes more pronounced and the darkness and light at the middle begin to fight the other._

_The darkness begins to slowly take over the light and suddenly the entire cord is of darkness, and still connected to the light._

_Suddenly, the cord begins to pull the cloud of darkness closer to the wash of light and the scene begins to get darker_

_The wash of light begins to get dimmer, before it shoots a star like object in a northern direction before the source of the light is overtaken by the darkness._

_The place where the wash of light was begins to take a form and it takes the form of the Temple of Time before the sun rises and sets for a total of seven times until all disappears and the number eight appears in several languages circling around the Time Sage before disappearing._

_\\\\\\ Vision End /_

Dekrosna opened his eyes and saw the aura of darkness and light around Artemis and his eyes turned grave.

"That was a grave vision." He turned to walk out the door but turned just in time to see the light around Artemis fluctuate and the darkness turn darker before returning to normal, "A grave vision indeed."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_**-AN-**_

_**Alright, another chapter done, and before the year was out too! That's a record. Totally kidding, I wanted to get this chapter out at least by midterm, but that didn't happen, but a week after doesn't hurt too badly.**_

_**I wonder who can figure out all of the hidden messages in the vision I gave Dekrosna…I will recognize those who do down here and you'll get a cyber-cookie.**_

_**That's all for me, until next time!**_

_**-Ultima**_


End file.
